Key to the Starry Sky
by DarkVampireFae
Summary: Right after the Infinity Clock was destroyed Fairy Tail searches for their savior, Lucy. Everyone couldn't believe that she had fused with the clock, even knowing the risks. Though her time at the guild had been short she had become essential in everyones life. It couldn't be possible that she was gone forever; they wouldn't stop searching until she was found. Not good at summaries
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys this is my first fan fiction so be patient with me please. If you see a mistake just let me know in a PM. I plan on updating every week but life happens so there maybe some weeks when I'm late. **

**Let me know what you think.**

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><p><strong>Natsu POV- March 29<strong>**th**** X791**

I woke up on the back of the giant octopus, surrounded by members of my guild, all but one. "Where's Lucy?" Looking around I noticed that there were blue shooting stars. All around me I could smell Lucy's scent. Every direction the stars went so did her scent.

"Erza... where is Lucy?" I said more forcefully. The only answer I got was sad looks and tearful eyes. Not believing that she didn't make it out of the infinity clock alive I sniffed some more and followed the strongest scent. "LUCY! Lucy where are you?" I cried into the sky as I tried to spot her.

I checked everywhere I could with the little energy I had, but couldn't find her. _Where was she?!_ I thought right before I passed out.

When I woke up I heard all of Fairy Tail crying out her name with no success.

-Week later-

We spent an entire week looking around the area for any trace of her, but all was found was one of her hair ribbons. We all returned to the guild hall hoping someone had dropped her off there or that she had found her way home, but no luck.

_I will find you Lucy, don't worry, we will never give up. _

**_Rogue POV -_**** March 29****th**** X791**

Frosch and I were an hour away from Sabertooth when I heard a loud thud nearby. We were so entranced by the shooting stars that I hadn't been paying attention to our surroundings. _Stupid, just because we are so close to home doesn't mean we won't be attacked. Especially this late at night, I knew I should have taken the train home but the thought of transportation made me nauseous. _Ready for an attack I quickly took in the surrounding forest expecting to see bandits. Seeing none I focused on the brightest light I have ever seen. It was blue and resembled the shooting stars, but compared to this mass the stars were incredibly dull. Just looking at the light emitting from the small crater a few feet from us hurt my eyes and I had to look away. Telling Frosh to stay back I went to investigate, as I got closer the light appeared to get brighter; standing at the edge of the crater I was unable to get a good look at the object that had nearly crushed us. Curious, we decided to make camp and wait to find out what the light held.

"Rogue-kun wake up. Frosch saw a lady in the hole."

Jumping up all traces of sleep gone I ran to the crater to see that Frosh was right, there was a woman; she was surrounded by the blue light, duller now than it had been the night before. _I wonder if she is alive, I don't hear a heartbeat aside from Frosch's. _Activating my Shadow Drive just in case, I moved to check her pulse, but when my hand came in contact to the blue light I was thrown back into the trees nearly a mile away. _What kind of magic was that? She didn't even move, and I still can't hear her heart. _Dazed I didn't see Frosch until it was too late. "Frosch! Get away from the lig-!" But she had already touched it and was being sucked into the blue light that had just attacked me and disappeared from sight. "NOOOO!"

The time it took me to reach the crater felt like an eternity instead of minutes. 80 feet away I noticed that the light was getting dimmer and dimmer, thinking it was disappearing with Frosch I sped up jumping over rocks and stumps. _Frosch! _ Ten feet away I skidded to a halt relieved when I saw her. She was poking the woman, unaffected by my shouting and emotional turmoil. "Frosch, back away from the woman" I said inching closer.

"Why Rogue-kun? She's sleeping and won't wake up. Frosch had poked her many times but she hasn't moved."

"Just come here please." Scooping up Frosch, I could clearly see the woman. Half of her golden hair was in a pigtail and the other half was all over the place. What little clothes she had on were ripped to shreds, barely covering her body - not that they appeared to have covered much before. Although her clothes were destroyed her body had no apparent injuries. _How does one fall from the sky, crash land and have no scratches or broken bones? _

The light had all but disappeared, but a fine layer remained, encasing her. Not willing to risk Frosch's safety I tasked her with gathering my bag while I tried approaching the light again. This time when I reached out to her I wasn't thrown back. Lifting her up was easy, but I wasn't touching her. The light was acting as a barrier, seeming to protect her from harm, and from my senses; I couldn't smell, feel or hear her. The light was smooth and hard, but it moved to accommodate my hold on the woman, bending as I carried her in front of me.

"Frosch, go on ahead and let the doctor know he has a new patient."

"Aye!"

Seeing Frosch a good distance away I headed towards the guild. When I got there I ignored all of the curious glances, and questions being thrown around the building as I took her to the infirmary. _Good thing the master won't be back for a while. She would demand answers that I don't have. _Laying her down on a pristine white bed I watched the doctor try to take her vitals to no avail. That barrier was still in place and no surgical instrument could penetrate it. All instruments used became useless, sharp scalpels were chipped and dented, and the saws' blades were completely devoid of teeth. I wouldn't let Dr. Fujii try magical means considering what had happened to me in the forest. Cringing at the memory I explained that it would be best if we waited until the blue light was completely gone. Agreeing we moved her to a private room so no one would accidentally disturb her shield and get hurt.

"Rogue! What are you doing bringing a stranger here, you know that the master needs to approve all who enter the guild. Do you have a death wish?"

_Fuck, I totally forgot that Sting was getting back today. _ "She won't be back for a week, maybe two. Hopefully by then our mystery guest will be awake and able to tell us who she is." I explained.

"You're risking her wrath over someone you don't even know?" Sting shouted, pulling his hair in frustration.

Shrugging I turned back to the girl. "Get out Sting, I'll be with you in a minute." Hearing the door slam shut I took her hand and just held it. Wishing I could feel her skin, inhale her scent and figure out why she seemed so familiar.

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><p><strong>AN: Yes I know that Frosch's gender is unknown but for my story Frosch will be female. <strong>

**Reviews are much appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey guys. Hope everyone had a Happy New Years! This being my first fanfic I never realized the struggles of writers and appreciate their stories all the more. I know that a lot of people don't like reviewing or don't feel like it, but it would really be helpful if you did. Good or bad, anything would be appreciated. So in my story Minerva is the guild master of Sabertooth if you didn't catch it in the first chapter; just makes things easier for me.**

** Other than that here is chapter 2 I hope you enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters besides those I've made up. **

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><p>Ignoring the sign on the door ordering everyone to 'KEEP OUT' I threw open the door excited for the request in my hand.<p>

WANTED:

Two S-Class mages to destroy a den of Wyverns and possible dragon that

Have been terrorizing the rural town of Kenji

Please speak to the mayor for further details upon arrival

2,500,000 J

Reading it over, I walked into the room "Rogue get your ass up I found the perfect miss-" halting my approach when I saw Rogue asleep and curled up next to Blondie. This wasn't the first time I had found him asleep, but it was a first seeing him on the same bed as her. He was always touching her in some way when he was with her.

I was wary of our mystery guest and surprised Rogue had spent so much time by her side. It seemed like nothing could tear him away from her, there was something pulling him back in every time he left to eat, shower or sleep; so much so that he just gave up leaving altogether and basically lived in the private room for the past week and a half. Every time I walked into that room to see if he had come to his senses and wanted to join me on a request I would find him holding her hand, either reading or muttering to himself about her being so familiar. I didn't know much about his past so I just kept silent, watching over him to see if the barrier was emitting some strange magic that could be causing this behavior, yet the barrier never did anything except repel anyone who tried to use magic on it. No matter how hard Orga tried there was no mark on it, and Rufus couldn't recall anything remotely similar to it.

There was no sign of change in the girl, for all we know she could be in a coma for the next year. Minerva was supposed to be getting back from her meeting with the Council later today but that didn't bother Rogue. He was so sure that Our Lady would understand; if Blondie could hold up an impenetrable shield while in a coma that must mean she was powerful and would let her join.

I couldn't see her being powerful, nowhere close to The Great Sting Eucliffe of course, I bet she couldn't even place a hit on me if I just stood there. I have to admit she had a rocking body, I wouldn't mind letting her stick around to fool around with. The only thing she'd be good for is a quickie, but considering Rogue's strange attachment he'd probably kick my ass for even trying.

Walking out of the room I decided to save the request for when Rogue got over his fixation. Not paying attention to where I was going I collided with someone knocking both of us over. "Watch where you're going you idiot!" I yelled while dusting myself off. As I stood up I couldn't hear a thing, the whole guild had stopped breathing; looking up I knew why. Looking up I took in pissed off eyes, and a stone cold face of our guild master "Uhhh, wel-Welcome home My Lady! How was your trip?" backing up as I spoke to her. _Fuck, I'm dead. _

**Rogue POV**

I awoke to crashing noises coming from downstairs; I could tell it wasn't our usual guild fights due to the lack of cheering by the spectators. "Frosch, watch over our guest and get me if anything happens" I said as I walked out of the room to investigate. Reaching the top of the stairway I barely avoided Sting's body hurdling towards me. I watched him hit the door to the room I had just left, and slide down it into a heap on the floor; groaning at first and then he fell silent, falling into unconsciousness. Taking in his appearance I noticed that he had many lacerations on his arms, as if he was blocking instead of attacking.

Looking downstairs I saw everyone hugging the walls trying to avoid the beating My Lady had given Sting. "Minerva, what did Sting do this time?" I asked as I made my way towards her, hoping to prevent any more of Sting's punishment.

"Knocking me down, calling me an idiot. Overall just being his annoying self." She calmly said while wiping him hand clean of my partner's blood. "What were you doing in infirmary? You don't look injured, is your weak-ass cat sick? If so get it out of here and take it to a vet."

Resisting the urge to defend Frosch I kept my mouth shut. After taking some calming breaths I answered her in the most respectful tone I could muster. "About that… We have had a visitor staying with us for the past 11 days. She is in a coma and has an impenetrable barri-"

"You what?!" Furious she moved to go up the stairs but had to resort to her magic when I blocked her way. Swapping places with Sting she sent him crashing on top of me, and then made her way into the infirmary, as Frosch came flying out of the room.

"Rogue-san, Rogue-san" Frosch said while landing on my chest poking my head, hindering my ability to move Sting's body off of me. "Fro thinks something is wrong with the pretty lady. Frosch can't see the blue light as well."

Preoccupied with getting Sting off of me I barely heard her when she said something was going on with our guest. Doubling my efforts I shoved Sting off of me using my magic, cringing when he hit the wall on the other side of the room, scooping up Frosch I made my way to the infirmary. Shoving people out of my way I flew up the stairs and busted down the door.

"My Lady I wouldn't do that…." My warning came too late when I saw her charged punch make contact with the barrier. Closing my eyes I waited for the inevitable backlash, but it never came. A familiar striking light spilled forth from the woman, temporarily blinding all in the room and blowing us back.

As the light dimmed I saw the woman's hand clearly, no longer surrounded by the barrier. Shielding Frosch in case of danger I told her to go get the doctor. Flying as fast as she could, she flew out of the room shouting for the doctor. Frosch was barely out of the door when there was a flash of gold, revealing an orange haired man wearing a black suit that had seen better days, while the woman had pink hair and chains around her wrists. Both looked pissed off and were advancing on me and the unconscious Minerva.

Preparing to defend myself I asked them what they wanted and who they were. Both chose to ignore me as they advanced, while keeping the woman in bed in their peripherals. Watching them I realized that they must know her. _If they could teleport why didn't they show up earlier? _

"Why have you kept her from us? Why have you done to her?" growled the pink haired woman.

Focusing to her, I was suddenly grabbed by the collar and slammed against the wall by the disheveled man. "You will die for harming our Princess and keeping her from us!"

"Wait, wait. I didn't hurt her! I found her like this a little over a week ago! We have been watching over her." I explained quickly, seconds from being punched in the face by the yellow glowing fist; awaiting the blow that never came.

"Urghh… Loke, Virgo what are you doing? Where are we?"

Everyone stopped to glance at the bed, seeing the woman sitting up watching us with the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen.

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><p><strong>AN: Please review =]<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**AN: Wow, at the end of the first week of my first chapter being up I only had 95 veiws. Not even 24 hours after the release of chapter 2 and I had more than tripled that. Thanks to everyone who has read my fic!**

** I have had this idea floating around in my head since July and never planned on posting it but I'm glad I did. In all that time I have yet to decide who I am gonna pair Lucy up with. There are three possibilities. I will let you guys know when I decide, until then bare with me. **

**I plan on sticking with this story until the very end; a New Year goal for me. Same with the weekly update, but as I said before something can ruin my nicely laid out plans – so don't hate me too much if that happens. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Fairy Tail. :'(**

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><p><strong>Mira's POV<strong>

For the guild it was torture not knowing what had happened to Lucy. They kept up their search long after the other guilds had given up. Everyone was out searching, except for Warren, Cana, Master and Mira. Warren and Cana wanted to join the others in the search but it made more sense for them to be at the guild in case a new piece of information was found; any whisper of a Celestial Wizard was immediately checked out. Everyone was taking this hard, Team Natsu of course taking it the hardest. They had failed to protect her. If they had dealt with Oracion Seis or severed the Infinity Castle's chains faster Lucy never would have had to merge completely with the Clock and she would be in the guild celebrating their victory.

Eleven awful days after the disappearance Loke had stopped by the guild to check on the progress of the search and was in the process of walking up to master's office when he disappeared without a word.

"LOKE!" Cana, Warren and I yelled, concerned for the spirit.

"What does that mean? Is it Lucy, did he find her?!" Cana said as she inched closer to me, wobbling as she went.

"What if something happened to Lucy?" I yelled, leaning on Cana for support. "This can't be happening again. Haven't we been through enough?"

In the few minutes it took for Warren to get Makarov downstairs both of us had let our minds run wild, thinking of everything that could have happened to Lucy and Loke. Master tried to comfort the two of us, but we could tell that he was just as worried and confused as we were. "It'll be fine. If one of my children were dead I would know it. Loke is probably checking a lead on Lucy." He said patting our backs. "Everything will be alright, just fine. It has to be."

He kept saying that over and over again as he starred off into space. I could tell that his mind was running wild, just like mine.

Warren, the calmest one out of all of us, was checking in with the search groups seeing if anyone had eyes on Loke; no one did. We could hear everyone as they asked what had happened, but Warren cut the connection sensing that it was making us worry even more.

**Lucy POV**

"Urghh… Loke, Virgo what are you doing? Where are we?" I gasped while stretching. I was used to Loke opening his own gate to join in on the guild fights that I didn't even ask why he was about to punch that man but he must have a good reason so I let him be.

It was then that I noticed that both of my spirits had tears streaming down their faces as they looked at me. Not noticing their movement I was shocked when I was crushed by Virgo's hug while she cried on my shoulder. Loke was a second behind her, having dropped the man, whatever conflict they had forgotten. They were squeezing me so tight that I was having difficulty breathing, when they heard me gasping they let up a little but didn't let go. Both spirits wouldn't stop crying and kept speaking over each other, making it impossible to understand a word they were saying.

"Okay, stop! Why are you two crying and can someone tell me where we are?" Pushing them away I got good look at my surroundings. I was in what looked like an infirmary but with only one bed; the walls were white with dark blue trim and tiny cat like symbols. There were no paintings on the walls, they were lifeless and sterile. It was the size of my living room, but was lacking in furniture. There was a chair and round table made out of metal, reminding me of Gajeel's iron, I bet if I looked at the bed frame it would be made out of the same material. _They obviously need to read a book about decorating, this place is depressing_. The only window in the room was tiny, barely the size of one of my pillows, and had bars on the other side. _Ha, prison and infirmary in one. _

I was shaking my head when I caught sight of my clothes. "AHHHH! What the hell happened to my clothes?! Loke, turn away NOW! Virgo can you please get me some clothes?" Virgo had disappeared reluctantly and reappeared within seconds with celestial clothes for me. _I love these clothes! _ They were simple, just black yoga pants and a black shirt with blue shooting stars on it, not what I usually wore but they were comfortable and the material felt like heaven.

Quickly dressing I sat down on the edge of the bed when I was done. "Now please explain what is happening; one at a time." I scolded when they both opened their mouths to speak. Loke and Virgo shared a glance and decided that Loke should be the one to answer.

Kneeling down in front of me he held my hand and began his story. "You have been missing for 11 days Princess. Everyone in the Spirit World hasn't been able to contact you or feel your presence the entire time. We have all been worried sick and looking for you. Not only us but the guild too! This is the first time we have felt you, and we came right away afraid that you would disappear again."

"The guild! What happened with the Infinity Clock? The other Celestial Mages? Did everyone make it out alright?" I asked, hoping that everyone was alright and that those mages had been woken up from their 100 year sleep. "What do you mean I've been missing? I just saw everyone in the Infinity Castle." I said glancing between my two spirits for conformation.

Before he could respond a blonde man came in with two exceeds and a doctor right behind them.

"See Frosch told you something was happening." said the adorable creature.

Now I was even more confused. My spirits weren't making any sense and it seemed like there were strangers everywhere. The man Loke had been about to punch was now standing, straightening out his clothes while trying to speak over Loke and Virgo. I heard something about shooting stars and me falling out of the sky. Thoroughly frustrated and feeling the beginning of a headache I forced closed Virgo's gate and silenced everyone by screaming. When all was silent I forced myself to calm down a little as I demanded that **one **person explain what has happened in the past eleven days.

The doctor having checked me out during the silence left, muttering that all of my vitals were fine and that he would come back to check on me when everything had calmed down. The silence continued until I started glaring at everyone. The man from the floor saw how impatient I was and decided to speak up. _Finally I'll get some answers._

**Rogue's POV**

_Her glare was scarier than those two who were about to attack me, Loke and Virgo I think were their names. _

"First off I want to introduce ourselves. I am Rogue Cheney. The blonde guy is Sting Eucliffe, ignore his appearance he doesn't always look like this." I said as I rolled my eyes. _Of course he would barge in here without cleaning up. He is completely ignoring the fact that his nose is broken and bleeding all over the place. _Sighing I continued. "The unconscious woman on the floor is Minerva, our guild master. She was knocked out right before you woke up. As for the exceeds, they are similar to cats except they are able to fly, talk-"

"I know what exceeds are, there is no need to explain." She interrupted.

Surprised I just looked at her for a minute. "Okay...well the one in my arms is Frosch, she is my partner in addition to Sting and the one standing by Sting is Lector."

Looking at her expectantly I waited to hear her name. "Lucy. My name is Lucy Heartfilia. It's nice to meet you all." She said with a big smile on her face.

After the introductions I explained where I had found her and how I have been watching over her ever since. I tried to describe the barrier that had in my opinion, saved her life and prevented her from waking up but when I asked her what it was, both she and Loke were confused and I could tell it would remain a mystery. After that my story was easy to tell since she had been asleep the entire time. When I was finished with my side of what has happened I heard Loke mummer "That's why we couldn't reach her" probably referring to the blue barrier. I looked at Lucy trying to judge her reaction to what she had heard but all she did was nod her head, waiting for Loke to speak.

I watched as Loke took a seat beside her, dragging her to his side with an arm around her waist. When she was as close as she could get she put her head on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh. I could barely contain a growl from escaping, wondering why the sight of them together affected me so much. Looking away from them was the wrong thing to do when I saw Sting lift his eyebrows in question and amusement. Ignoring him I moved to check on Minerva now that the danger had passed; waiting for Loke to tell his side.

**-Flash back-**

"LUCY! LUCY!"

"Lu-chan!"

"Oi Blondie where are you?"

"Princess!"

"Hime!"

"LUSHII!"

Everyone's voices could be heard for miles as they searched for their lost nakama. Everyone feared the worst, but was reassured when the dragon slayers told them that her scent was strong, and that there was no hint of blood.

All of Lucy's spirits were out looking for her too; the Spirit King had temporarily opened all of the Zodiac gates to aide in the search. It worried everyone that the spirits weren't able to sense her through their keys, but hope was not lost.

Virgo was using her earth magic to check every pile of rock for miles.

Aquarius was searching every nearby water source with her boyfriend, Scorpio. Scorpio was with her because if they did find Lucy he was the only one that could prevent Aquarius from drowning and killing her herself for making her worry so much.

Loke, Capricorn, Cancer and Sagittarius scoured the surrounding area for any hint of her location but came up empty. They thought that something my be blocking her presence from them but couldn't think of anything nearby that powerful.

Gemini transformed into Lucy in order to call out the silver key spirits to assist in the search, since they were unable to open their own gates. When the guild saw Horologium they had hoped he had Lucy within him, but that hope was quickly dashed. When Crux appeared he relieved everyone's minds when he told them that Lucy was still alive because every one of her contracts was still intact and they wouldn't be if she had died during the destruction of the castle.

The entire guild spent the past eleven days searching for her and planned on doing so until they found her. They covered hundreds of miles around her last known location, but all anybody found was her one of her hair ribbons under some rocks. After the first seven days everyone besides Makarov, Mira, Cana and Warren took a job as an excuse to continue their search.

**-End flash back-**

"…but now that we've found you we can go back-"

"No Loke, we can't." Lucy whispered looking down at her wringing hands.

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><p><strong>AN: Hope you all liked the chapter. I know I stop at the most inopportune times but it makes things fun, doesn't it? ;)<strong>

**ZodiacWriter:** Thanks! I'm trying to make this a good story I just hope I can keep it up. I'll try to update more often but with two jobs it's hard to do so. Chapter 4 is already half way done, so I might publish that one earlier than planned.

**DeadendAngel4**: I definitely will.

**TChacha:** It might be a RoLu, definitely looks like it so far, but I'm not too sure about it yet. You'll see a potential match up in the next chapter. ; ) Thanks, I'm glad that there are a few people who like it so far. It was one of the things that held me back from publishing it earlier, wondering if anyone would bother to read it let alone follow or favorite it.

**EchizenRyoma:** If nothing bad happens, then it wouldn't be a very good story, now would it?

**wingchan7**: Thanks!

**I really appreciated all of the reviews I got :) Keep them coming please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So I know I said that the other potential match would appear in this chapter but I lied. I was reading my notes that I had made a while ago and realized it no longer matches up with my current outline of the story. I have to say that this story has changed A LOT from what I had originally envisioned but I like it better. But I have to rewrite and change a lot of things - like the time line- so be patient with me. **

**Next time I hint at something happening in the next chapter I will make sure it happens! **

**The chapter is early because I am going out of town for the weekend to visit a friend and may not get to it when I get back on Sunday. So don't kill me if there are mistakes, I didn't look it over nearly as well as the others. If you see any mistakes or think I need a beta because there are a ton of mistakes let me know and I'll work on finding one. **

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><p><strong>Rogue's POV<strong>

I couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to go back to her own guild but I didn't really care about her reasoning. _She can join our guild if she doesn't want to go back. _

When Loke stopped yelling and the room got quiet I realized that I had spoken aloud. Glancing at Sting I heard him growl as he began glaring at me. Glaring back I shrugged and turned towards Lucy to gauge her reaction.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking, she looked a little shocked but that's it. However she was having a difficult time restraining Loke from attacking me. His fist was lit up ready to punch me. "They're our family, of course she is going back. She is just disorientated from being in a coma for the past week. Thank you for all of your help in taking care of her but your no longer needed, we will be leaving as soon as possible."

"Loke! You need to be nice to them, they didn't have to take care of me; they could have left me outside. You should be thanking them not yelling at them." I was shocked that she would defend me but didn't comment. "Rogue do you think it would be possible for me to talk to Loke alone? I'm sorry to kick you out of your own infirmary but I need to talk to him about a personal matter."

Nodding I quickly helped Minerva stand up and walked out of the room, dragging Sting along. Waiting for our exceeds to exit before closing the door.

"'She can join our guild', really Rogue? We don't know the first thing about her or her powers. You're thinking with the wrong head. She probably isn't strong enough for us anyway. There is a reason we are the number one guild in Fiore. We can't just let anybody join." Minerva ranted but I wasn't worried about her attacking me like she had Sting, because of how unsteady she was walking away from us. She could still be heard ranting and raving in her office; threatening bodily harm to anyone who disturbed her.

As soon as we were sure that she wouldn't be coming out for a while Sting and I tried to listen in on our guests through the door. We caught a couple of words here and there but the majority of their conversation was muffed by crying and by the noises of our guild in the background.

**Lucy's POV**

"I- I learned something while I was merged with the clock Loke. That clock showed me something regarding my family; mom, dad and even Michelle. I didn't just relive my own memories but some of theirs too.

"It was like the clock answered the one question I had about each of them. Why mom got sick, why dad acted the way he did and how Michelle must have felt when I abandoned her.

"Michelle – God how could I have done that to her, she felt exactly like I had when dad turned me away, time and time again; unloved and completely alone. No wonder she believed Midnight when he came to her. Any chance of being with me again, being loved, she grabbed. I owe her so much.

"…she saved me you know, while I was in the clock. I was completely lost, not knowing where I was or who I was; it was like the clock stole everything that made me, me. She appeared out of nowhere, reminding me of the first time we met – that birthday was the last one I had with my family; it was absolutely perfect. Her voice guided me out of the dark, enough so I could hear Happy and CoCo calling out to me and so I could hear Natsu, Romeo and Elfman fighting. She saved us all. Without her I wouldn't have been able to take control of the castle and get Natsu out of Midnight's dark void." Stopping my story I let Loke take it in, seeing the confusion on his face; I knew he was wondering what this had to do with me not returning to the guild but I had to get this out.

"As for dad he was grieving for mom and unknowingly for me. He had too much pressure on him and he snapped. He knew what had happened to mom, why she got sick and he knew I could follow in his footsteps; and he couldn't allow that. He was devastated that carrying Celestial Magic killed his wife, and when I showed signs of the same magic he refused to lose me the same way he had lost mom. All that time I thought he was working, and scheming to marry me off for riches, I was wrong. He was researching like mad, trying to find a way to prevent history from repeating itself. He found a way but knew I wouldn't like it. He found a family, one that had an anti-magic aura; that was the family he tried to force me to marry into. If I had married their son and spent enough time with them then my magic would have disappeared and I would be safe. That's why he hired Phantom Lord; he just wanted to save me - Although his intentions were good, it doesn't excuse the destruction and injuries to our guild.

"When that plan failed, he fell into despair, using the last of our fortune in an attempt to find another solution, but he couldn't. He spent the rest of his life, the seven years we were gone, rebuilding his fortune to begin his search again. Somehow he knew, knew I wasn't dead and he never gave up on me.

"Michelle told me that his research notes were stored away at his guild, Love and Lucky. I need to go get it soon. Maybe I could fill in the blanks the Infinity Clock left me with." I muttered as my mind wandered off topic. Thinking of the last time I had spoken to my father, all he had been dealing with and how I would never see him again, had me crying uncontrollably. Loke tried to get me to calm down but wasn't able to, so he just held me letting me get it all out.

After several minutes I was finally able to gain some semblance of control over my emotions and finally glanced up at Loke. I could see how concerned he was; when he opened his mouth to try to comfort me some more I shook my head, signaling him to not speak. It was hard enough telling him this, I didn't need him opening his mouth making me break down again. Wiping away my tears I hardened myself and prepared for the worst part. "Loke, I need you to not say anything, no matter what. I won't be able to get through it all if you do." Waiting for him to promise, I leaned on him once again.

"I promise" he said solemnly, wrapping me in his arms tighter.

"Mom, she wasn't sick like they had told me. It was a magical sickness not a natural one; she was leaking magic, unable to contain it in her body anymore. Someone or something was absorbing all of her magic at a rate her body couldn't keep up with.

"You know that she was a Celestial Spirit Mage and held 3 of the 12 Zodiac keys. Back then that was rare and the fact that she was able to summon all three at the same time made her one of the strongest Celestial Mages of her time and even now. During her memory I heard someone speaking to mom telling her that she was the strongest Celestial Mage and the only one capable of strengthening a seal. It was supposed to be cut and dry, real easy, but something went wrong. Instead of providing the seal with a little bit of her magic, it almost sucked it all up, causing her to get 'sick'. She went into a deep sleep, regaining as much of her magic as she could. However when she woke up her magic began leaving her again. It was a slow decline that gave her 3 months left to live. Those 3 months were spent teaching me about our magic. When she didn't have the energy to get out of bed anymore she turned my training over to Cancer and Aquarius.

"As you can imagine Aquarius wasn't very patient with me and left me with Cancer most of the time. That's how we became so close, Cancer and I would get off topic a lot and would up goofing off, doing my hair and playing dress up.

"All of that stopped when mom got worse, she couldn't get out of bed, even with help. She could barely stay awake for more than a couple of hours a day. I stayed with her when she slept, holding her hand and laying down in bed with her; crying my eyes out. Right before she passed she told me she loved me and to 'watch out for Polaris' and that is when the Infinity Clock stopped." I froze when I felt Loke flinch at 'Polaris'. Slowly pulling away from him I looked at his face and I knew he knew the person or thing my mother had been talking about.

"You know what or who Polaris is, don't you Loke? You know who killed my mom!" I ended in a shout. Jumping off of the bed I stood in front of him waiting for him to tell me all he knew about it, but he didn't say a word. Whispering his name when he remained silent "Loke? Tell me please, I need to know what really happened to mom."

**Loke's POV**

"Where did your mom learn of Polaris? What did the clock show you?" I said, refusing to meet her inquiring eyes.

"I don't know, as I said earlier all I heard was someone asking her for help, I don't know who it was or what the seal was for. I think the clock only showed me the bare minimum because I didn't know enough to ask the right question. All I wanted to know is why mom got sick and Polaris is that reason. The Infinity Clock did answer my question I guess, but it left me with more questions than it had answered."

"DAMNIT!" I thundered as I threw myself from the bed.

_She was supposed to be gone for good. How could he not tell me, the leader of the Zodiacs that her seal was weakening?!if that was when Layla died, that means that the seal has been weakened even more since then. This is not good, if Layla died trying to strengthen the seal then that means Lu- Lucy. _I stopped my train of thought turning to face the first human I had truly cared about in hundreds of years.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry about your mom. You know I would help you if I could, but I can't." Holding up my hand up when she looked like she was going to speak. "I can't, but I can talk to the one who can, but it's going to take some time. I have to go to the Spirit World to talk to him. I'll be back as soon as I learn something." Not giving her the time to respond I quickly hugged her and left.

Although I had left I could still hear her shouting at me. "Loke! Loke you get your ass back here and tell me who Polaris is! Loke please!" She cried as she crumbled to the ground, unable to hold her emotions back anymore. _I'm really sorry Lucy. _

"Please watch out for her Virgo, I won't be back for a couple of months at the very least_." I can't let her die like Layla did. _

"As you wish brother." Virgo said bowing her head before she disappeared to be with Lucy.

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><p><strong>AN: Again sorry if the chapter isn't as well written as the last three. Let me know what you think. :)<strong>

**Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed ****_Key to the Starry Sky! _**** I appreciate all of you and all of the support and encouragement I have received! It all means a great deal to me! **

**Wingchan7: **Haha I know I don't like cliff hangers when I read other fics but that's only because I don't want the chapter to end. Lol. I'm glad you love it! Even though I'm the one writing it, I can't wait to find out in the next chapter either, since things are ever changing. Does that make sense?

**DeadendAngel4: **They are not meant to be broken. : P You're not a downer, and thank you for the encouragement.

**TChacha: **RoLu love may or may not be in the air, the stars have not decided yet, but it sure looks that way. Although you say no pressure I know you're sending RoLu thoughts my way, I can feel them. Lol. I have decided not to hold back anymore, I am writing this for me, as an experiment to see how it goes and how I feel about writing. So far I love it. I eat, sleep and breathe this story, it never leaves me for a second and it's scary, yet nice.

**Dragon'sHost: **I think a lot of people are hoping for RoLu, I even find myself leaning towards it but there is one of my favorite Lucy pairings visible in this story for me so it's difficult.

**FairyTail555: **Domo arigato!


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I have to say I love the note feature on my phone. When an idea pops into my head I rarely have paper available, but my phone is always with me so I can type everything down. This chapter and chapter 6 all came to me while I was supposed to be sleeping – let's just say that while I was with my friend I was like the walking dead. But we still had tons of fun. VooDoo Donuts for the win!**

**Here is the new chapter! **

**As I was cruising Fairy Tail Wiki I noticed that in the new Arc there is a Polaris spirit. That spirit and my character are not the same. I haven't seen the new Arc yet. :[**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, no matter how much I would like too. **

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><p><strong>Lucy POV<strong>

I spent the rest of the day locked up in the room alternating between crying and making my plan to discover what or who killed my mother. I knew if I went back to Fairy Tail they would overreact to what I had learned and wouldn't let me out of their sight until they had taken care of the threat themselves. But from the stranger in my mother's memory I knew that the only one who could deal with the problem was a Celestial Mage. Knowing my team they would ignore any logical plan and run head first into danger. I couldn't have them, any of them get hurt; I loved them too much and that meant they needed to stay out of it as much as possible.

Thinking of all of the Celestial Mages that had been put to sleep, I summoned Crux asking him to find me everything he could about what had happened to them and if any Celestial Mage had died the same way my mom had in the past. He hovered above the foot of my bed and began snoring away when I heard a knock at the door. Before I could move a muscle Virgo was already there telling whoever it was to come back tomorrow. I knew it was rude to keep them out of their own infirmary but I couldn't be polite to anyone at the moment, other than my spirits.

As I waited for Crux to find the information I had asked for I called on the rest of my Spirits one by one after Virgo had gone back. Every one of my spirits was glad to see me, telling me how worried they had all been. I received numerous hugs from them and some attempted groping from Taurus but I was happy to see them all; glad they had come out of the clock unscathed. When I had seen all but four of my friends I asked Crux to continue his research in the Spirit World and to let Gemini know when he had found something so I could talk to the remaining four together.

Taking a deep breath I prepared myself as I summoned Gemini.

"Lucy we are so glad that you're alright! We missed you when you were gone." The two said coming to my side, bouncing as they went. "Everyone was worried for you, but we knew you were alive because we all felt our contracts still intact. Aquarius was really worried too, although she won't say so when you see her. We would recommend you have someone with you when you call on her, we wouldn't want you to accidentally drown." They said predicting Aquarius' reaction to the 'T'. I sweatdropped when I heard the warning fearing even more for the upcoming reunion.

"Thanks for the warning Gemi and Mini. I missed you too, although to me it seems like no time has passed at all." I said with a wink. "Can you two please transform into me and summon Cancer and Capricorn while I get Aquarius?" Although they were confused as to why I needed to talk to them at once instead of one at a time like the rest of the spirits they consented and did as I asked.

I waited until Cancer and Carpricorn appeared before summoning Aquarius. "Open gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" Before she could appear I got behind Capricorn for protection, knowing he was considered Loke's second in command and Aquarius wouldn't dare sweep him away with her impending attack.

"You brat I'm gonna make you pay for worrying everyone like that! Hiding from us in this godforsaken guild in the middle of nowhere" I heard her screaming before she had fully arrived. With tick marks on her head she looked around for me, ready to send me flying with her water. "Stop hiding LuLu, I can see you. Come out and accept your punishment!"

Refusing to leave the safety of Capricorn I dragged him in front of me every time Aquarius moved to a better position to hurl her water at me. "Lucy-sama it is nice to see you well, but do you think you could stop pulling on my clothes, you're stretching them." Capricorn said while straightening out his clothes.

Letting go of him I bowed in remorse "Oh. I'm sorry Capricorn I didn't mean to ruin your clothes. I'll replace them for you if you'd like." During my apology I stupidly took my eyes off of my tormentor and was slammed into the door with a fierce wave. The wave continued on for what seemed like an eternity before the muffled voice of Capricorn could be heard telling her to stop. When the wave disappeared I fell to the floor coughing up the water. "Missed you too Aquarius" I said sarcastically as I continued to cough.

**Rogue POV**

I felt the water first before I saw it come out of the crack under the door. It was flowing down the stairs at a rapid and steady pace as I was swept away with it. When I got my bearings I ran back upstairs banging on the door, asking if she was alright. She answered shakily coughing as she spoke. "Yeah I'm alright; I'm just choking on a little bit of water."

"This isn't a little bit of water it swept me down the stairs when it came out of the bottom of your door." All I heard was silence and the occasional cough when she suddenly opened the door. She had that deadly aura around her again and spoke softly "Were you eavesdropping on my conversations Rogue?"

Quickly taking a few steps back I put my hands out in front of me. "No, I couldn't hear anything, it was all muffled-" Realizing my mistake too late I barely saw her foot coming before I went flying back down the stairs.

"Lucy-kick!" I heard right before the door to the infirmary slammed then was locked.

Hanging my head in defeat I slowly turned to the only noise in the guild. When my eyes reached the source I saw Sting and Lector laughing and pointing at me. Reassuring Frosch that I was alright I gently pushed her away telling her to stay upstairs until I was done. Slowly rising to my feet I made my way to Sting, deciding that working my frustrations out on him sounded like a brilliant idea.

**Lucy POV**

"Stupid boy invading my privacy, just like that team of mine." I muttered as I dried myself off with the towel Cancer had fetched for me. Giving up on drying my drenched clothes I threw the towel in the bathroom. "Gah!"

Glancing at Aquarius I could see her smirk at the sight of my disheveled state, but her eyes had softened and I could see that she was relieved to see me. When she caught me looking at her, she discreetly winked at me before her eyes hardened, returning to her normal pissed off look. I knew she had cared about my absence when I heard her call me LuLu, a nickname she had used many times when I was a child before mom got sick, but it was nice to see another sign of her affection.

"I know you're wondering why I wanted to talk to you three together instead of separately but I think you all may know more than you led me to believe regarding mom's death." Watching closely for their reaction I saw them all look at each other with concern. "Before you try to convince me you didn't leave anything out I want you to know that I know."

"Wha-what is it you think you know Lucy-san?" Capricorn asked, not looking nearly as calm as he usually does.

"I know mom didn't die of a natural disease and that she tried to strengthen a seal but failed. I also know that I'm at risk too, of dying the same way she did if I was to try to strengthen the seal and I know that the seal is either protecting or restraining someone or something named Polaris." I was pacing in front of them, frustrated that they would try to fool me again. I told them everything that the clock had shown me, just like I had Loke.

By the looks on their faces I could see they were communicating mentally, trying to figure a way out of telling me anything. "Don't tell me some bullshit story about not being able to tell me, because Loke already did that and he disappeared too and now he won't answer my calls; always sending a message through Virgo making up excuses."

"We wouldn't willingly lie to you Lucy, you know that -Ebi. If we could we would tell you all that we know but we physically can't -Ebi." Cancer explained.

"Don't go accusing us of lying to you brat. As Cancer said we literally cannot tell you about it. We have a stupid spell on us preventing us from speaking that name and everything about it." Aquarius grounded out through clenched teeth. I know how much she hates being told what to do and for her to have a spell on her to follow any command was remarkable, especially if the caster was still breathing.

"It's true Lucy-san. We are under a spell that will incur pain on the one thing we love the most if we speak of it in front of or to anyone besides a fellow spirit. That is why Loke has gone back to our world to get the spell revoked. You deserve to know the truth about everything." Capricorn said as he came to my side. "We never want any harm to befall you and ignorance of the subject could cause you great harm."

"I want answers! I have lived the past 7 years, 14 years actually, wondering what kind of illness would slowly suck the magic out of someone, leaving them in excruciating pain without any hope of survival. I watched it all happen! Every one told me that I couldn't see her; that I would get sick too and that was a lie. I sneaked in every night to be with her, watching over her. Trying to enjoy what little time I had left with her. I would just watch her sleep, content to be by her side. I saw every wince she made while she slept, heard every groan. It was torture, but I needed to be close to her.

"I was too young back then to realize mom had given me a clue on what had caused me to spend the rest of my childhood motherless, too distracted by the pain I was experiencing! Please, please help Loke find a way to break the spell. I need to know what and who caused this." I begged, tired of my emotions running a muck and from using so much magic to see everyone. I could see that they were all stunned by this declaration; they had thought that I was kept from the agony of watching mom wither away. Able to have my last memory of her as her usual lively self.

One by one they left, reassuring me that everything was being done to break the spell and had been since mom had died. When they were all gone Virgo reappeared, "Punishment time, Princess?" Shaking my head, I saw her disappointment; getting over her disappointment she immediately began helping me dry off and change into my pajamas then led me back to bed. "Hime, you should rest, you've had a trying couple of days."

"Of course, thank you Virgo. Would you apologize to Loke for me? I didn't know about the spell." Muttering sleepily, having my eyes close against my will.

"Anything for you, Hime." She whispered, running her hands through my hair, soothing me to sleep.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think!<strong>

**I want to thank everyone who had reviewed, read, followed and favorited. I know I say it a lot but it means so much to me!**

**Shinigami Ou: **I plan on updating every week, occasionally twice a week.

**FT LOVER: **Thanks!

**wingchan7:** Lol. Sorry for all the mystery! We all lose ourselves when we find a story we like.

**TChacha: **Lol. I know how it is, especially when I find a new 'drug'. ;) I'm glad you have such high expectations for my chapters, hopefully I can live up to it!

**DeadEndAngel: **Will do! I have chapter 6 written up but I'm having some doubts about it, so someone is gonna look it over for me first.

**CiafiHOLIC: (:**

**Dragon'sHost: **Aw thanks! I worked hard on that part. I never liked how Jude was towards Lucy, at least this way he has some reason for it. Thank you for helping me with my next chapter. I really really appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I just want to thank everyone who has stuck with my fic! Looking at the viewer's graph I saw that a ton of people have read the first chapter but after that it dwindles down. So those who have continued to read it thank you. I'm sorry if it's kind of slow, but things are going to speed up in the next couple of chapters. =]**

**A huge thanks to Dragon'sHost for proofing this chapter for me! **

**Here is the chapter, hope you enjoy! **

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><p><strong>Lucy POV<strong>

The next morning I was woken up by loud snoring. Expecting my team, I sat up ready to push Natsu out of the bed, but when I felt nothing in the spot next to me I opened my eyes and realized I wasn't in my apartment. Sighing I put my head in the hands thinking how sad it was that I couldn't think of anything but my family. It's only been a day, at least to me, since I've seen them and I already miss them. I can't imagine what it's like for them to go weeks without seeing me, or even knowing if I am alive. They must be freaking out, but I couldn't involve them yet. I knew too little about everything. _I'll have to send Virgo with a message from me, to let them know I'm alive and well._

I found the source of the racket that had woken me and saw that Crux was sleeping. When I moved to wake him up one eye opened to glance at me.

"Good morning Lucy-sama."

"Ohayo Grandpa, did you find any of the information I had requested?"

"Yes, I finished sometime last night but didn't want to wake you.

"The majority of Neville's disciples were murdered by Oracion Seis, but a few did survive. Those who survived were put into the hundred year coma, but were woken up when you destroyed the castle. Unfortunately it looks likes when Oracion Seis broke their bio-links all of their powers were taken from them and absorbed into the clock, to fuel it.

"Given that you were a part of the clock for some time Lucy-san, you also absorbed the former mages' magic as well, that is why you were able to summon all of your spirits yesterday without taxing your magical reserves too much. Unwittingly you have accessed your second origin, meaning you can now summon your spirits without using as much magic. And as you demonstrated yesterday you can also summon two zodiac spirits at once with ease, although I wouldn't recommend trying to summon three spirits, Zodiac or silver, at once, only a very few Celestial Mages have been able to successfully do it in the past.

"As for any other Celestial Mages dying the same way your mother did, none have. Your mom is the only case I been able to find. I'm sorry Lucy"

"Thank you Grandpa." I said as I sent him back home while flopping back down in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Those poor mages; first they are attacked and put into a coma, and then they wake up to realize that they are without magic, never able to summon their spirits again. I couldn't imagine what they were going through, didn't want to imagine it either. The thought of never seeing my spirits again had me close to tears; I'd be lost without them, all of them. I felt guilty, maybe if I hadn't absorbed their magic we could have figured out a way to return it to them. Closing my eyes I was already exhausted, even though I had just woken up. _It's just one revelation after another._

I was almost asleep when I heard and felt my stomach grumble. Thinking about it I haven't eaten since I woke up. I was so busy explaining everything to Loke, then summoning every that I was too busy to think about eating. As the grumbling got louder I got out of bed to head down to their bar when I got a glimpse of myself; cringing, because I couldn't meet everyone in my bunny pajamas (a gag gift from Levy). Thinking of everything I would need before I summoned Virgo, I was shocked when she appeared in front of me with bags of my clothes in her arms.

"Punishment?" she asked with a hopeful look.

"No, no punishment. Virgo how did you know I needed clothes? I hadn't summoned you yet to ask for them." I said confused tilting my head to the right. _Is this a perk of my second origin?_

"Yes Princess, it is. Because you have access to your second origin you can now summon us by thinking our names, or by rubbing our key. Although the farther away you are from our keys the more magic it will take to summon us." She explained.

I could still hear Virgo talking as my mind wandered off, thinking of all the possibilities. _I wouldn't be defenseless and helpless if my keys got stolen from me! I could summon them without alerting the enemy of my intentions. This is awesome, I can also – did she say bath?_

"Um, Virgo can you repeat that last part please?" I said hopefully.

"Of course, I said I have taken the liberty of preparing a bubble bath for you and putting your toiletries away in the bathroom. I have also brought you some clothes from your apartment; they are in the closet to the left."

Before she had finished speaking I squealed "Bubble bath!" and ran to the bathroom, nearly tripping on the bed's sheet that my foot got caught on. "Thanks Virgo! I'll call you when I'm done!" I shouted as I slammed the door, stripping as I made my way to the tub; sighing when I entered the steaming water. When I was in completely, I sunk down and held my head under the bubbles, letting my troubles drift away momentarily. I stayed under for as long as my lungs would allow me, gasping when I emerged from the bubbles. Taking another deep breath after I had wiped the water off of my face, I looked around the bathroom and saw that Virgo had left some towels on top of the toilet seat. She thinks of everything. Looking at the hair products and soap she brought me and noticed that they were my favorites. _Thank you Virgo!_ I thought, and was startled when I heard her respond. "You're welcome Hime."

"Oh, Virgo I thought you had gone back. I'll be done in a moment." I said disappointed that I had to rush my bath.

"No need Hime, I'll be leaving shortly. I was just laying out your clothes on the bed for you. When you come out you will see some finger-less gloves with your clothes. Capricorn says to start wearing them because you will start training later today."

"Wonderful, why couldn't we start training tomorrow?" I muttered under my breath. "Thank you Virgo, for everything you brought, and please let Capricorn know that I will be ready for him."

"Will do Princess." She said as I heard the telltale sign of her returning to the spirit world.

Relaxing once again I leisurely washed my hair with my shampoo, scrubbing all of the dirt out of it. As I was scrubbing I found fragments of the Infinity Clock in my hair reminding me that I needed to ask Crux about the barrier I was in. Putting the fragments aside I continued with my hair and began conditioning it. It was a new mixture of mine that was supposed to increase the rate of growth, and make my hair silky smooth while repairing spit ends. I started making them to get a more reliable income, tired of always worrying about earning enough with my team. How they could always destroy the town we were in I would never know.

When we returned from Terou Island I was glad that the shops were willing to sell my products. It allowed me to not worry about my rent for the next few months since I had given my land lady permission to withdraw 70,000 jewels a month in case I ever went missing again.

No one in the guild knew about my hobby yet. It's not like I was keeping it a secret from them intentionally, I just haven't had the chance. We've been so busy with disappearing for seven years, me being kidnapped and now with me missing. It was never the right time to tell them. Even with all that has happened I knew that my team would be hurt that I didn't tell them earlier.

I stayed submerged in the water for another half-hour, enjoying the quiet. When I couldn't ignore my stomach's noises anymore I pulled the stopper and got out of the bath, wrapping the towel around myself as I went to inspect the clothes Virgo had laid out for me. They were my regular clothes except my skirt had been replaced by shorts. Shrugging I put everything on, including the matching blue gloves. Although they looked like your everyday cotton material I could tell by the feel of them that they were made out of a Celestial material, making them extremely comfortable and durable. Seeing a piece of paper where the gloves had been I saw a note from Capricorn.

Lucy-sama,

Wear these gloves at all times, we don't know who these people are and should remain cautious until we learn more. Also I will be sending opponents to you sporadically as a training exercise. Remember to be aware of your surroundings at all times and to use all of your senses, not just sight. Come back to this room by 4 pm to begin training your magic. I am looking forward to working on your diet and exercise program, you'd benefit from a little weight loss.

Capricorn

_There is nothing wrong with my weight!_ I thought completely insulted by Capricorn's note.

Heading out the door I saw that barely anyone was in the guild. Running my fingers over Horologrium's key I learned that it was only 7 am. No wonder no one is here. Hearing the loudest grumble from my stomach ever, I headed to the bar and the lone figure. "Good morning!" I said cheerfully.

"What will you have Chere?" the man said as he turned around, checking me out when he did.

Giggling, I slid onto a bar-stool and leaned my arms on the counter as I spoke. "Can I have a stack of strawberry pancakes and a strawberry smoothie please?"_ He doesn't see a problem with my weight_. I thought mentally sticking my tongue out at Capricorn.

Taking him all in, I declared him my eye candy for the day. He was about Laxus' height but not as buff. I could tell that he was in great shape; his midnight blue collared shirt was tight enough to show off his drool worthy abs and muscular arms. He had a handsome face, with the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen, and his five o'clock shadow made him even sexier.

"Anything for you Chere" he said with a wink. Sighing as he turned around and reached out through the ordering window. Watching as his shirt rode up and revealed his back muscles. When he started turning back to me I quickly averted my eyes so I wouldn't be caught staring at him. "My name is Julien. I joined the guild about a week ago, how about you? I haven't seen you in here before, have you been on a mission?" He said holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Julien, I'm Lucy" I said as I shook his hand. When he held onto my hand longer than necessary I looked down at the counter, feeling myself blush.

"Order up!" Startled, I yanked my hand away from his.

Laughing, he brought me my food. "Thanks Julien" I said as I grabbed my stuff to look for a more comfortable seat. When I sat down I made sure I had a perfect view of my candy then dug into the delicious looking and smelling pancakes.

**Rogue POV**

Frosch was chasing a butterfly as we walked to the guild, seeing how happy she was I smiled, glad that I have had her with me all these years. Seeing that we were at the guild doors I called for Frosch, motioning her to hop into my arms. It took several times of me calling for her to take her attention away from her new friend. When I finally had her attention she had a big smile on her face and jumped into my arms.

With her in my arms I opened the door, surprisingly seeing Lucy at one of our tables. What was more surprising was Julien leaning on her table, flirting with her. Growling I walked towards them yanking Julien away from the table as I told him to get back to work.

"Uh, hello Rogue. Is everything alright?" Lucy asked as she hugged Frosch.

Still glaring at Julien's back I answered her. "There is something wrong with him. I told Minerva it was a mistake letting him join." I turned back to her and sat down across from her, seeing her confused look. "Sorry, I really don't like him; bad vibes"

"Ah okay. Would you like some of my pancakes? They are amazing, but not as good as Mi- not as good as my friend's." Raising my brow at her stumble I declined her offer, and went to order Frosch's fish smoothie and my French toast, glaring at Julien as I did.

Spending time with her was surprisingly easy and enjoyable. We talked for hours, learning about each other's families, hobbies and magic. She was incredibly intelligent, and well read. Most of our time was spent discussing books we had read and the stupid things our partners do, although she never mentioned them by name; not wanting to ruin our conversation I left it for another day.

As the hours passed and members came and went I could tell they were all shocked about me socializing, and laughing. They had never seen me show so much emotion or talk so much in the time that I had been a part of the guild. Truth be told, I was shocked too but it felt as if I had known her forever instead of a couple of days.

Unfortunately our time together was cut short when she touched one of her keys and excused herself for the rest of the day, saying something about her torture beginning in a minute. I watched her walk up the stairs, debating if I should try to listen in on her 'torture' but didn't want to risk another 'Lucy kick' to the face.

My view of her was blocked when Sting rushed to me demanding we go on the quest he showed me a few days ago. "It's been several days now Rogue, close to a week. You see she is awake and well; now will you go on this damned mission with me? It might be a lead on more –"

"No. I can't leave her alone." I answered.

"She won't be alone!" he said throwing his hands in the air. "She'll have most of the guild with her, and she seemed to get along with Julien so she won't be lonely." Seeing him smirk I knew what he was thinking.

"I said no Sting. If anything Julien's attention on her is cause to worry. Out of the week he has been here he has made no conscious effort to talk to anyone and keeps to himself. He's up to something. Why can't you take Rufus or Orga with you?"

When I looked at him I saw that I had unintentionally hurt his feelings but he tried to hide it. "Whatever, Rogue." He said as he stomped off.

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><p><strong>-Two weeks later-<strong>

**Sting POV**

Ever since Lucy woke up Rogue hasn't left her side. Whenever she is in the guild hall there he is sitting next to her. At first it was only Rogue and Frosch sitting with her, then Rufus and surprisingly now Lector. It was all that goddamn laughing that was happening over there that attracted them and seeing Rogue actually socializing. It was sickening really, what was so special about her anyways?

When I listened in on their conversations I learned everything I could about our unwanted guest; everything from her favorite color to her magic to her family issues, but the one thing they never spoke of was her guild. Minerva and I thought that, that was odd, considering how much she loved her spirits and talked about her family. I've been trying to catch a glimpse of her guild mark; you'd think with all of her revealing clothes she wore it would be easy but I still haven't seen one. I was sure that it was on her hand somewhere but she kept those stupid gloves on all of the time. She said she kept them on all the time because her spirits would spontaneously appear to 'attack' her, which was something I enjoyed immensely; it was funny watching her get her ass handed to her by her spirits. You would think she would spend more time training and less time talking, in order to beat her spirits. But she reassured me that she trains for at least 10 hours a day, half of the time was up in the infirmary alone with her spirits doing God knows what. She said she was training her magic but every time I passed her door I didn't hear a thing from her besides her even breathing; as if she was sleeping. As for the other 5 hours of her training I had no idea when she did that or even if she did. She has never stepped foot inside the training yard, at least from what I had seen in the past fortnight.

In all this time I still haven't been able to go on that mission with Rogue. At this point I was ready to invite her along on the mission. Every moment we waited we risked someone else accepting the mission. If she would just leave the guild everything would go back to normal, she had her own guild somewhere waiting for her return. If I knew who they were I'd gladly give them our location if that meant Rogue would return to normal.

Walking towards them I had every intention of being nice to her but when I got to their table I couldn't hold in my irritation anymore.

**Rogue POV**

Frosch, Lector, Rufus and I were all talking to Lucy when Sting suddenly came to our table and started yelling at Lucy saying she didn't belong here because if she wasn't strong enough to beat her Spirits in their random brawls then she couldn't handle real enemies on a mission. He went on to ask about her supposed guild and why she hadn't returned to them, implying that she was unwanted there as she was here. When he finally shut up she silently left the room, ignoring him; muttering about stupid chauvinistic pigs.

"Why do you do you always drive her away?" I asked him as I watched her slam her door.

"Because she is leading you on; you may have learned some things about her but have you learned what guild she is from? Why hasn't she told us! She could be from some dark guild out to sabotage us."

"Fro doesn't think so." She said raising her hand, when she saw Sting glaring at her she cowered and ran to my arms for safety. Growling when I saw how scared she was I returned his glare, continuing it when he had stopped. I could see that he realized what he had done and was apologetic, but now was not the time.

"Yeah! She is much too nice to be a part of a dark guild" Lector said defending his new friend. "Although you are very wise to be wary of her." He quickly added, not used to disagreeing with his idol and best friend.

"She's brainwashed you all! Can't you see it; she is doing something to get you to be so nice to her!"

"Sting, that's called being nice. Something we, in Sabertooth, are not accustomed to; always thinking the worst of people, staying isolated from the rest of the guilds. There is no brainwashing happening." Rufus said.

"Whatever, I still say she is up to something with those spirits of hers. Always closed off in her room for most of the day." he said walking back to the bar.

As I was calming Fro down, reassuring her Sting would never hurt her, the guild quieted when we heard the giant lacrima screen ringing; Minerva answered with her usual gruff greeting. "What is it?"

When I saw Yukino's face appear I was glad that Sting had drove Lucy out of the room.

"I'm just checking in as instructed 'Master'" she said in a condescending voice. "I'll be returning to the guild in about a week. Now if you'll excuse me I have a job to do." Signing off before anyone could respond.

Everyone went back to their own business relieved to be spared from her presence for several more weeks. I watched Minerva run her hands through her hair, pulling at the ends. Yukino was the only one that could speak to her like that. Since she felt slightly responsible for what had happened to her.

**-Flash back-**

When Yukino had first joined our guild she was nice, bubbly, and friendly to everyone. She was our first Celestial Mage, possessing two of the Zodiacs and the one unknown golden key.

Back then Minerva's father was our guild master; he was ten times worse than Minerva.

During Yukino's first Grand Magic Games she was doing well until one day where she was too concerned with her spirit's health to truly focus on her tasks. The simple acts of losing one fight and event in the Grand Magic Games had master punishing Yukino severely.

The same day of her losses she was dragged in front of the entire guild, bound, blindfolded and gagged. She was then chained to the banister, where she received 25 poison laced lashes all over her body. 20 for each point she didn't win us and 5 more for the amount of points we were behind the first place team at the time, Mermaid Heel. The punishment wouldn't have been that bad if she hadn't been stripped beforehand and if there hadn't been any poison on the whip. The poison not only made the lashes more painful but also prevented the wounds from ever healing completely.

From that day on Master Jiemma ordered 'training sessions' two days a week, until he deemed her strength acceptable. She pushed herself and her spirits to the limit; hardening herself as she went. Ignoring her spirits needs focused on one thing and one thing only, winning. The stronger she got the more distant she became towards the guild and her spirits and the less she acted like herself. Concerned for their guild mate the two Dragon Slayers popped in on a 'training session' only to discover Master Jiemma sexually assaulting her. Throwing him off of her we beat him into unconsciousness, disgusted that he could have done this to one of his own. When we brought the matter and her father to her, Minerva immediately called for Jiemma's expulsion from Sabertooth and the guild unanimously agreed.

After he was forced out several more girls came forward saying that he had done it to them too, but not for nearly as long. Upon hearing this Minerva called the Magic Council warning them of the monster she called her father, but when they went to his house he was nowhere to be seen and all of his accounts had been emptied.

**-Flash back end-**

Since then Minerva has given Yukino the title of S-Class -seeing how strong she had become- and lets her basically run free, as long as she doesn't do anything to harm Sabertooth's reputation.

It's been years since Yukino's abuse ended. Yet she still treats her spirits like shit, resenting them for not stopping the abuse sooner. Every time she summoned them we could see that they were subdued, angry at her but not willing to stand against her because of their guilt. They were all miserable; there has to be some way for them to all be happy again.

No matter what we do we haven't been able to get our old Yukino back. She snaps at anyone who tries to talk to her and wails on them if they get to close. I knew that it was a lost cause, because our sweet, happy-go-lucky Yukino died all those years ago.

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><p><strong>AN: Thank you everyone for reading my fic! I loved every review I received!<strong>

**Let me know what you think!**

**FT LOVER:** Thanks! I love writing it.

**Wingchan7**: *cheers along with you*

**TChacha**: Not that much time has passed, 4ish hours. Lucy fell asleep too because of her emotional exhaustion, learning that her mom wasn't sick, someone or something possibly killed her etc. Plus summoning all of her spirits in one day, let alone a couple of hours.

He didn't have time to move out of the way, I don't know if you have ever been hit by a ball flying your way, but I have. I saw it coming and heard the 'watch outs' but it was already too late. Plus Rogue deserved it for eavesdropping. You know how much Lucy likes her privacy. ;)

I haven't seen Naruto.

Polaris Viewer, Lol.

I'll keep supplying you the drug until it's finished. ; )

Thanks for the encouragement!

**Under Celestial Stars:** Thanks! I update every week, it used to be Sundays but my schedule got off tract last week.

**Dragon'sHost:** *nods head solemnly* Poor Rogue, but he deserved it. I love Aquarius and believe that she cares deep down.

**FairyTail555**: Soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: GO SEAHAWKS!**

**Happy SuperBowl 49 day! I hope everyone is rooting for the Seahawks! Lol, it's okay if you aren't and I hope you don't stop reading my fic because I am… that would be really sad. O.o**

**I'm having some major writers block when it comes to chapter 8. I know what I want to happen I just can't write it correctly, so if it is a little late, don't kill me. If anything it will be shorter than the chapter 6 and 7, just so I can get something out for you guys. =]**

**Anyways here is the latest chapter I hope you enjoy! **

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

When news of Loke's disappearance spread around to all of the members, everyone returned to the guild to re-group. Everyone tried to cope with the loss of their family, going as far as refusing to drink and fight with each other; too upset to do much else than stay close to those they were closest to. It had been a couple of days since everyone had arrived, and mere minutes before they would all head out again when Virgo appeared by the bar. For a second everyone was stunned into silence before all hell broke loose, with everyone clamoring for her attention. Ignoring all questions, Virgo looked around the guild for someone, not seeing the person she was looking for she headed towards the stairs.

Team Natsu, growing impatient with being ignored blocked her path demanding answers. Virgo wasn't fazed a bit, easily dodging their grabbing hands; she was too focused on the team that she didn't notice the other set of hands as they reached for her. Virgo glared at the person who had caught her, not use to people touching her.

"This is ridiculous woman! Tell us where Bunny Girl is!" Gajeel growled with uncontrolled anger, as he shook her; squeezing tighter when Virgo remained silent. For a split second it looked like Virgo was enjoying the pain of Gajeel's grip, but that blissful moment was broken the moment she felt liquid running down her arms.

Seeing the blood stunned the guild and Virgo, enough to make her transform into her 'ape' form, as Natsu put it, making Gajeel release his hold. Taking the opening Virgo threw Gajeel into Team Natsu, knocking them all down as she continued on her warpath; ignoring her bloody state of her arms. With no one else blocking her path Virgo was able to get up the stairs and too Master's office in no time.

The whole guild had stopped paying attention to Virgo when they had realized her destination was the Master's office. Instead they were all staring at Gajeel, never seeing him lose control like that before. They didn't know if he had intentionally pierced Virgo's arms with the bloodied spikes on his palms or if he had lost control. By the look on his face, and the fact that he was staring at his red hands the guild assumed it had all been an accident. Before anyone could get a word out to Gajeel to question him, he stormed off to his usual table sans Levy. He ignored all of the looks he got as he calmly wiped his hands clean of the offending blood, and then proceeded to eat his iron scraps as if nothing had happened; all the while staring at the staircase, waiting for the answers he had been denied. "Not now Half Pint, just sit there quietly." He said, not even turning towards Levy as she sat next to him.

Knowing not to bother him when he was in one of his moods, Levy turned to Lily and picked him up, "Any idea why he nearly tore off Virgo's arms?" She whispered into his ear. Hearing growling next to them, all Lily did was shake his head, indicating Levy should stay silent. Sighing she rested her head on top of Lily's, waiting for Virgo or Master to appear.

Team Natsu were too worried about where Lucy and Loke were to take notice of how Gajeel had acted. They would have followed Virgo to Makarov's office, but Laxus blocked their way, with his arms crossed and the Thunder God Tribe backing him. "Move" Natsu said with his fist engulfed in flames, ready to forcibly remove them, from their path. Evergreen, Bickslow and Freed prepared for an attack, seeing the rest of Team Natsu gear up, along with the hot head.

The guild was divided on which spectacle to watch, the brooding Gajeel or the potential fight between the two strongest teams in the guild; being that they were in fact Fairy Tail, everyone prepared to watch the battle; from a safe distance of course. At this point Laxus was surrounded by his lightening focusing solely on Natsu who was sucking in a breath to attack.

Before he could release his Fire Dragon's Roar, the door to the office was opened, revealing Master and Virgo. Everyone rushed to the bottom of the staircase, crowding the armed mages, stopping their potential skirmish.

"Why weren't her spirits able to find her before?"

"Is she alright?"

"Where did Loke go, is he with Lucy?"

"Where is she? When will she be back?"

The entire guild was shouting out questions, making it impossible to distinguish who was asking what question.

"SILENCE!" Makarov shouted, waiting for everyone to calm down. "Virgo came here to let us know that both Loke and Lucy are alive and well. Her spirits weren't able to find her before because the Infinity Clock had put a barrier around her to prevent any harm from befalling her when she fell from the sky. She was found by another guild, one who has taken good care of her in the past fortnight. Virgo said that Lucy will not be returning right away, and that we aren't able to know her location, or the name of the guild she is at." When he was done the guild continued spewing out questions, angered at the answers they had gotten.

"Lucy belongs here; if she is recovering she should do it here, where we can take care of her." Gray yelled.

"Hime, knows that you all miss her and that you are worried, that's why she sent me almost immediately after she woke up. She misses you all and will return when she is ready." Virgo said. When she spoke Team Natsu looked at her noticing the bandages that were wrapped around her arms.

Stepping forward Wendy spoke up to be heard over the obnoxiously loud crowd of mages. "I…I can heal your arms for you, Virgo-sama. I mean, if you want me to." She offered with her head down.

"Thank you for offering Wendy-kun, but once I return to the Spirit World the majority of the wounds will heal." Virgo replied, looking lovingly towards the Sky Dragon Slayer. "I'll tell Lucy you all are anxiously awaiting her return." Virgo said, nodding to Master, signaling that she was leaving.

Evading Laxus, Natsu jumped up on the balcony trying to get a hold of Virgo before she could vanish. He was a second too late, reaching for the spirit that was no longer there, falling on the ground in the spot she had been occupying. "DAMMIT" Natsu growled as he punched the floor. Pushing himself off the ground Natsu jumped off the balcony "Let's go Happy." He called before leaving the guild a second behind Gajeel, dragging Lisanna along with him.

Everyone followed their lead, intending to continue their search as planned, not entirely placated with Virgo's news.

**-2 weeks later-**

It's been 3 and a-half weeks, 24 days, since Lucy had been seen last, 17 days, since Loke had disappeared and 14 days since Virgo had delivered the news about them. Even knowing that they were safe Fairy Tail had resumed their search, much to the chagrin of their master, who had wanted them to begin training for the Grand Magic Games, the only way to pay off of the debts that had accumulated over the past seven years. Everyone refused to focus on the games, more focused on what seemed like a never ending search. Surprisingly Team Natsu had split up, deciding to search for their lost Celestial Mage separately, having paired up with someone else.

Natsu and Happy chose to pair up with Lisanna because of how she reminded them of Lucy, able to calm Natsu's motion sickness, and fretting over them, like Lucy had. Over the course of the past four weeks Natsu had realized that his feelings for Lisanna were more than mere friendship. He had come to the realization one morning when she had left camp without telling the two boys, wanting to surprise them with their favorite meals. She had been gone barely an hour but when they woke up to her gone and couldn't find her they broke down. When Lisanna came back to the camp it was in tatters with Natsu and Happy bawling on the ground. Since then they have been inseparable.

Gray on the other hand had wanted to search alone, wanting to isolate himself from everyone; reanalyzing the whole Infinity Castle disaster. But everywhere he went he had a shadow with him, protecting his back and making sure he had everything he needed. During all of his thinking he had made a decision, a decision to stop taking Juvia for granted because one day she may disappear like his little sister had. One night when Juvia was about to lay down she felt two muscular arms wrap around her from behind, and a head rest on her shoulder. Resisting the urge to melt she stood there hoping it wasn't one of her many fantasies. "Gr-Gra-Gray-sama is something wrong?"

"Stay with me tonight, please." Squeezing her tighter he continued "I'm sorry I haven't addressed your feelings for me, never giving you an answer, always blowing you off; that's over now, I promise. I love you Juvia, I have for a while now, I was just too afraid to admit it. I want to spend every possible moment with you, protecting you, loving you and being with you always. I- -"

During his speech Juvia had turned around in his arms to face him. She silenced him with a kiss. "Juvia loves you too Gray-sama." They stayed up all night, talking about themselves, learning all they could about each other; making up for lost time.

Erza, unable to contact Jellal, focused on all of Fairy Tail, keeping tabs on them, making sure they were alright and accounted for. She paid close attention to Wendy, seeing how upset she was; both of them were missing their sister and Loke. They partnered up, gaining the most comfort from each other.

Surprisingly Gajeel was taking it nearly as bad as Team Natsu. No one had the time to dwell on this unusual behavior because of the never-ending search, but one person did. Mira couldn't understand why Gajeel cared almost as much as Team Natsu and why he had inadvertently injured one of their allies and friends; since he joined Fairy Tail he had never hurt anyone of them, besides guild fights. In addition to that odd behavior he was even quieter and more anti-social than usual. He already wasn't one to socialize with others but Bunny Girl's disappearance reverted him back to the way he behaved right after joining Fairy Tail; he refused to check in himself, saying he had another lead to follow or saw no need to see us, instead he sent Lily in his place. Lily explained that Gajeel wasn't taking this well at all; after the whole Phantom Lord fiasco he had greatly admired Lucy and wanted to get to know her more, but she was always off with her team or getting kidnapped, never giving him the chance.

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><p><strong>Lucy POV<strong>

Three weeks have passed since I first woke up in the infirmary and I have never felt stronger. I have been training almost every day for 10 hours with my spirits. All of this training has enabled me to comfortably call upon 2 spirits at once and supply them with magic for hours on end. The last time we timed it I was able to have them out for 10 hours without fighting, and 5 hours while they fought. To say that I was exhausted every time we timed my training was an understatement. When the timer stopped I was always drenched in sweat and panting for breath. It took everything I had left to get onto the bed before I passed out, all without showering. To say that I was disgusted when I woke up was an understatement; I have had to do so many loads of laundry it wasn't funny. Even though it was exhausting I enjoyed it, because of it I was able to keep Plue with me while I slept. His presence helped with my loneliness; I missed Fairy Tail so much. Since I had joined we have never been separated for this long and I never wanted to again.

All throughout my training Capricorn has surprising encouraged me and told me I was doing wonderfully, and had said that I exceeded expectations. He took Crux's warning to heart and refused to let me try summoning three spirits at once, fearing the worst. He said he wanted to be sure I would survive before we attempted something that dangerous, how he would know that I didn't know.

A day or two after I had woken up I sent Virgo to Master with a note. I assured him that I was alive and well and that I would not be returning for several more weeks. When Virgo had returned to me after delivering my message and retrieving some more of my things from home, she had bandages on her both arms. I was mid-swing of my whip when I noticed. I immediately went to her, dropping my whip, so I could inspect her arms, she tried to stop me by saying it was already healed but I needed to see for myself. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw scabs already formed, but I was confused on how she had gotten them, she had gone to Fairy Tail and no one would harm her there. Seeing and most likely hearing my confused thoughts she answered mentally.

"_It was an accident, Hime. He didn't mean to, he was just concerned about you." _Virgo thought with a smirk while replaying what had happened in her head.

"_Gajeel?! I'm going to kill him for hurting you!" _I said as I applied ointment on her arms, to speed the healing. When I was done I returned to my training; fuming I unleashed my anger upon my unknowing opponent. Luckily it was Capricorn, because I wasn't in the mood for holding back. I gave it my all, but was still unable to land more than a few attacks on him. By the end of the training session I could see how impressed Caprico was, but I didn't have the energy to rejoice; exhausted with how much energy I had used and still furious at Gajeel.

At first I had planned on going back to Fairy Tail after I had trained a little to see everyone and raid the guild's library – Sabertooth's was sorely lacking in every category- but luckily Rufus had a couple of books that could be helpful; unfortunately they were in a couple of languages he and I did not know. Fortunately he agreed to let me borrow them and take them to my guild, with the promise that I wouldn't be a stranger and would visit them all again. But I decided to stay longer when I overheard Rogue talking to Sting about their Celestial Mage. When I first heard about Yukino I was excited to meet her and pick her brain about Polaris, and her spirits, but as I listened to them talking about her more and more my excitement turned to anger. How dare she treat her spirits like objects instead of people! From what I heard, something bad had happened to her in the past but that did not excuse her for treating others just as badly. I saw how Angel's abuse and attitude had affected Gemini and I didn't want that for any of the other spirits, whether they were contracted to me or not. When she finally returned I would try to get her to see reason but if she refused I'd have to beat some sense into her. And if she still ignored me I would have Virgo find them in the Spirit World and let them know they were always welcome to open a contract with me.

Thinking of the Spirit world made me think about how I still haven't heard from Loke, and how when I touch his key, I feel nothing. I would be out of my mind with worry if it hadn't been for Virgo giving me daily reports on him. Whoever had cast that spell on them was sure hard to find, apparently the last time they had seen the spirit was back when mom was alive, since then no one has seen or heard from that spirit.

Although Loke hadn't seen me for a while he was mad at me for my decision to not return to Fairy Tail right away. Each message Virgo delivered to me had orders to return, saying they could protect me until he returned. He didn't understand that I didn't want to be protected; I wanted to do the protecting. I wanted to train to become stronger so I could stop being a hindrance to the guild. Each time I got kidnapped, or wasn't strong enough to defeat the enemy someone got hurt. Natsu almost disappeared into Midnight's dark void last time! I cringed at every memory of all the injuries that were inflicted on my family because of me. Phantom Lord was first and foremost in my mind, if I had been able to defend myself against Gajeel and his lackeys I could have saved Reedus from getting hurt. Although I had forgiven Gajeel for his past mistakes I was still wary of him. It's not that I didn't trust him it was that whenever I was in the guild I could feel him watching me, it was very disconcerting. Levy had noticed too, and had tried to question Gajeel but he just shrugged it off and denied doing it –disappearing on a request the next day. Before the whole mess of the Infinity Clock began I had decided to confront him and demand an answer, but that never happened.

Sighing I leaned my head down on the table I was sitting at waiting for Rogue to arrive. In the past few weeks I had taken Rogue's freak out over Julien paying attention to me to heart. He had tried to talk to me some more the next day but without my anger at Capricorn's jibe at my weight I was able to focus more on him and got the same 'wrong' feeling Rogue had warned me about. I was still polite to him when he talked to me but I noticed that he asked very probing questions and would stare at me when I was talking to Rogue or Rufus. Unlike Gajeel's glances at me, I could feel malice behind it. So I just avoided him as much as possible without being rude. I could tell he had noticed my attempts at distance by the glare he was sending my way, even though he tried to disguise it with a smile.

Feeling my distress Virgo appeared to keep me company as I waited. She quietly sat next to me and put her arm around my shoulder squeezing me to her side; feeling her I lifted my head and smiled at her.

We continued like that for a couple more minutes until we were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Knowing that if it were Rogue he would have just said my name I was curious as to who it was. Looking over my shoulder I saw a woman about my age and height, but with short white hair. She was wearing a short white dress with blue trim and a matching cape.

"Is this how other Celestial Mages treat their spirits? How pathetic, you're treating it like its human. How weak can you get?" scoffed the woman. I assumed it was Yukino, Sabertooth's resident Celestial Mage.

I felt Virgo tense up, ready to defend me. I put a restraining hand on her arm and turned fully towards Yukino. "They have a right to be treated with respect and love just like any other human does. It's not weakness that I am displaying, weakness is demeaning those who care about you and fight for you. Our spirits can be great friends, when given the chance." I said.

"Like I said pathetic. If they are such great 'friends' then where were they when I needed them the most? Why did they just sit in their fucking world and watch my torture for almost a year? They're nothing but tools." She said, rolling her eyes as she did.

"You disgust me, they aren't just mindless dolls for you to use. A real Celestial Mage should respect her spirits and worry over them as they do us." Standing up I walked towards the training grounds. "If you're up to it, I'll show you how a _real _Celestial Mage fights." I said as I walked outside, knowing she would follow and accept my challenge.

**Rogue POV**

When I got to the guild I couldn't see Lucy outside on the bench like she usually was and assumed that she was running behind like I had been. Every morning we met at the front of the guild because she was uncomfortable with the stares she got from Julien. Then we would have breakfast at 7am, that way we could talk without all of the noise of the guild. It was nice; it was just the two of us plus Frosch, who usually fell back asleep in Lucy's arms, or on her head.

I was late today because I couldn't find Frosch, and tore my apartment apart looking for her only to find her under my bed in the furthest corner by the wall. Apparently she had found a new friend, a spider, and had chased it around the place all night and ended up under the bed where she fell asleep because she had, had too much fun with her 'friend'.

This was the worst day to be late! Sting had told me last night that Yukino would be returning today, sometime in the afternoon though. Knowing how vicious she could be I had wanted to warn Lucy that Yukino would be returning today but got caught up in Fro's story. Considering we were the first people at the guild I thought I had enough time to warn Lucy, but apparently not. When I heard a cry in the training yard, I grabbed Frosch and ran towards the noise. As I got inside the guild I could smell Yukino and Lucy's scent mingling. _Shit how did Yukino get here so fast?_ I was completely oblivious to the fact that most of the guild was also there, too focused on finding Lucy.

Slamming the door to the training grounds open I skidded to a stop, surprised at the sight. Lucy was looking at a tree with an expression I had never seen her make before. It was an evil smile, one that promised pain. "Fro doesn't like that face Rogue." Frosch said burrowing deeper into my arms. All I could do was nod in agreement.

Looking up the tree I saw the white haired mage I had intended to warn Lucy about, tangled up in the branches. _I wondered how she got up there_. I thought as I turned towards Lucy, when I saw her unfurl her whip, Fleuve d'etoiles. _Oh, that's how she got there_. Smirking, I crossed my arms and got into a more comfortable stance ready to watch the rest of the battle. "Frosch go get Minerva and Sting please". I said watching her walk back to the guild.

Just as Fro entered the building Yukino detangled herself and called upon Pisces, while Lucy summoned Taurus and Cancer with just a touch of her hand surprising both Yukino and I. _She really has been training these past two weeks; here I thought she was just meditating. _"Fro got everyone" shook me from my thoughts. When she said everyone she meant _everyone_. I hadn't realized how late I actually was until I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little past nine.

At least with everyone watching they would all see how she could hold her own against an opponent, other than her spirits. This way everyone would stop calling her weak – something that had started after Sting's out-burst. I understood how it felt to be treated like a pariah, which is how I knew how strong she was. She never let it show how it affected her, always keeping a smile on her face and acting like her cheery self. From talking to her and listening in on how she interacted with her spirits I could tell that she held back when she was fighting her spirits, not wanting to risk hurting them in anyway.

Looking at Sting I saw that he was just happy to finally see this fight, same as Minerva. They both had enjoyed watching Lucy fight against Scorpio, Capricorn, Cancer and Taurus inside of the guild, watching her get thrown into the walls and down the stairs. Their favorite training exercise was when she fought Aquarius at the nearby river, where Aquarius did everything possible to drown her and sometimes sent her flying down a waterfall. When they first watched the skirmish with Aquarius Sting and Minerva, along with the entire guild stood close by laughing, but they soon learned that Aquarius' rage wasn't reserved for Lucy alone. After that they watched from the guild's roof, a safe enough distance away to not get in the way again. Since Yukino's lacrima call the guild started making bets on who would win. Knowing how ruthless she could be, all but three people bet on Yukino winning the fight. _All they think about is being the strongest guild in Fiore and having the strongest members_.

**Normal POV**

"Okay you two keep the fight as clean as possible. Yukino, you know the rules, if you lose the battle you'll lose your S-Class rank. Lucy, since you currently not a member of our guild, if you somehow defeat Yukino, you will be allowed to join the guild." They didn't even wait for Minerva to finish before Yukino attacked with everything she had.

When Pisces appeared there were two giant fish, one was white and the other was black. Both were extremely strong and fast, keeping both Taurus and Cancer busy by weaving around them and nipping at them. Once the white one had distracted the two spirits the black one dove for Lucy thinking her defenseless. Sensing that their master was in danger Taurus and Cancer looked on knowing Lucy could handle herself. Everyone thought Lucy was about to lose the battle, all except Rogue. He just looked on calmly waiting for Lucy to act.

Once again, Lucy unfurled her whip and sent the black fish crashing into the trees. Shocked Yukino and the other fish didn't see the two spirits attack and were sent in the same direction as the first. Both of the fish were slow to get up, trying to untangle themselves quick enough to not anger their master.

Within seconds they were untangled and transformed into humans. The white fish turned into an older looking woman with jet black hair, and a tight, form fitting light blue onesie, with what looked like shells as accents; her breasts almost spilling out between the shells. Whereas the black fish transformed into a tan man, a little older than Lucy was, with white hair flowing behind him. After their transformation they stood beside each other. "Mama, getting summoned in this form means…" started the man, "…annihilation of the enemy, son" the woman finished. While they were talking and enjoying their reunion of sorts, Cancer quickly went in and cut down 'mama', her hair in shreds when he was done. When the 'son' saw his 'mama' unconscious on the floor he shot towards Lucy yelling "Water Spear Strike". Unable to block the attack Lucy went flying when the water hit her. Unlike Yukino, she didn't have the trees to cushion her fall; instead she slammed into the brick of the guild, sliding down it in a hump; leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

Surprisingly Lucy wasn't down for the count, she moaned for a bit before she reached behind her head pulling her hand back to reveal blood on it; slowly getting up with the help of Cancer. While Cancer was holding her up, Taurus charged and knocked the son clear into the air, until he couldn't be seen anymore. "No one hurts Lucy-san's beaooootiful body!"

Yukino, angry with her spirit forced their gate shut, promising a proper punishment later. Calling out Libra, she quickly had her change the direction of gravity causing Lucy, Cancer and Taurus to float up into the sky.

Lucy closed their gates preventing them from flying away like Pisces had. When her spirits were safe Lucy latched onto a tree branch with her whip to stop her accent, barely holding on. Suddenly gravity shifted again and Lucy was swinging on her whip laughing as if it was some sort of ride. Yukino got angrier with each passing minute trying to get Lucy to let go of her whip by constantly shifting the direction of gravity. Through it all Lucy was laughing and enjoying herself.

"Fucking useless" Yukino said as she forced Libra's gate closed as she held up her most powerful key, the Thirteenth key. Yukino didn't know what set it belonged in, it was an unknown. Even Rufus couldn't find its origin in all of his memories.

When Lucy finally stopped swinging she jumped down, swaying, dizzy from her head injury but ready to finish this fight. She had, had fun swinging and all but the way Yukino treated her spirits upset her too much to enjoying anything else. In addition to Yukino's treatment of her spirits, everyone could tell that Lucy was finding it harder and harder to stay conscious with the amount of blood that was flowing down the back of her head and the way she was swaying, barely able to stay standing.

"Open, Gate of the Snake Charmer, Ophiuchus." Yukino yelled. All of a sudden a mechanical looking snake appeared; pitch black with armor plating and larger than Pisces had been in their fish form.

_"So this is her final key. If she is going to go all out then so will I!" _Lucy muttered as she summoned Gemini.

Seeing the two cute, blue floating spirits arrive had everyone sweat dropping; confusing the guild. Every one of them were wondering the same thing, _what are they supposed to do against the giant snake?_

All Lucy did was nod to her spirit, then they transformed into an exact copy of Lucy; except with her bunny pajamas on instead of her regular clothes. Everyone just shook their head in disbelief and laughed hysterically at the second Lucy's choice of attire. _Was she giving up already?_

With that creepy smile, the two Lucy's stood next to each other with their hands connected.

_Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens..._  
><em>All the stars, far and wide...<em>  
><em>Show me thy appearance...<em>  
><em>With such shine.<em>  
><em>Oh Tetrabiblos... <em>  
><em>I am the ruler of the stars...<em>  
><em>Aspect become complete...<em>  
><em>Open thy malevolent gate.<em>  
><em>Oh 88 Stars of the heaven... <em>  
><em>Shine!<em>  
><strong><em>Urano Metria!<em>**

As they chanted a gold magic circle appeared beneath their feet, surrounding them with light, as if a spot light was trained on them. When they finished the chant dozens of light meteors shot from them towards Ophiuchus and Yukino hitting them from every direction.

When the light disappeared, Ophiuchus was gone but Yukino was still standing. She was swaying more than Lucy, but was unable to stay standing and fell into unconsciousness before she even hit the ground. A second later Lucy fell to her hands and knees, panting in exertion. Gemini was by her, making sure that she was alright, concerned with the head wound that was still bleeding.

All of Sabertooth stared in amazement at what had to be one of the most powerful spells they had ever seen a Mage use. Looking towards the caster they saw that her eyes still reflected the magic circle, but it was slowly receding. Even though she was on the ground, it was still obvious as to who had won the fight.

Once the magic had left her eyes Lucy glanced at Frosch and Rogue then fell down even further, almost laying down now, trying to stay conscious. Rogue and Frosch pushed people out of their way trying to get to Lucy. "Lucy, Lucy are you alright? Someone call of the doctor!" Rogue yelled as he neared her, smelling all of the blood that was coming from her head.

Before he could pick her up, Loke suddenly appeared and carried her back to the infirmary with due haste, telling her that she should have called Capricorn, to oversee her first time using that spell since she had relearned it. As they got further away it occurred to everyone that if this had been her first time using this spell then what would it be like after she had practiced it. They all shuddered at the thought.

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><p><strong>AN: Again thank you all for the lovely reviews and comments! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. <strong>

**I know some people aren't gonna be happy about the non-existent friendship between Yukino and Lucy, but you never know what will happen in the future. ;) **

**Let me know what you think. I've never written a fight scene before. ._.**

**wingchan7: **It would have been nice if she had saved her. But in this fic they are far from friends. =/

**Dragon'sHost: **Thank you! =]

**0Bluemoon0: **I know poor Yukino, but unfortunately their first meeting doesn't bode well for their future relationship. =[

**Guest: **Thanks!

**TChacha: **Lol oops. =] Well I'm glad you found a new drug even if it wasn't mine initially. I agree that Dragon'sHost work is amazing! I love her fics. 3

Sorry that it felt a little rushed, you might think this one was rushed too. But I promise the next chapter with have plenty of Rogue and Lucy time. I'll try to show them interacting in future chapters too. I just felt like the fic was going slow, but no one has said that or hinted at it so I don't know why I thought it was. XD

Evil, basketballs to the face hurt like hell. ='[ Your poor partner.

**StiLu RoLu JeLu Love: **Angry turtle face? I have never seen/heard of that one before. lol


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Poor Seahawks =[**

**But onto more important things. Thank you to everyone who followed and favorited my story, it's much appreciated! **

**Sorry it's shorter than the last couple of chapters. I'll probably publish the next chapter in the next couple of days, no promises though- i'm sick. **

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><p><strong>Lucy POV<strong>

"What possessed you to use that spell? How could you be so careless? What if something had happened to you, how do you think all of we would feel, how about Rogue and that frog? Huh!" I just giggled as I watched Loke pace around in the infirmary.

I realized it was the wrong thing to do when he stopped and stared at me with so much hurt in his eyes. Sighing I got up and hugged him. "I'm sorry Loke I didn't plan on using that spell but you should have seen how she treated her spirits; it was appalling. She was being so mean to them; you know how angry that makes me. You guys aren't just tools meant to be used, you all feel pain, get scared, and get hurt. If I had lost to her there would be no chance of me releasing them from their contracts. You understand, right Loke" I pouted at him, hoping he would see reason. "Plus, I knew I had to end the fight, I was barely able to stand up, if I had continued fighting for much longer I would have passed out before the fight at ended, and one of you would have gotten hurt." This time I tried my puppy eyes, knowing it worked every time.

Hearing him sigh I knew I had made my point and that he wasn't mad at me anymore. "We just worry about you Lucy; we all love you and can't imagine a world without you". He said while squeezing me to his side. We both sighed, knowing that we would go through this again at a later date when I did something else he didn't like. He helped me into bed, climbing in after me. We laid there in silence enjoying being back in each other's presence, while the doctor checked on all of my vitals, and flashed a light in my eyes. When he was done he wiped my head clean of blood and wrapped it in gauze.

"You'll be fine Lucy you just have a minor concussion. You'll need to be checked on every hour tonight. I've seen you too many times in the past week, please be more careful." Dr. Fujii said shaking his head as he left.

"What did you learn Loke? Did you get the spell revoked?" I said turning to look up into his eyes, accidentally putting our faces incredibly close together. Loke was smirking, keeping his eyes on my lips, trying to close the gap between us. Exasperated I was holding him back when I heard talking outside my door.

"Lucy I just ran into the doctor, I'm glad that it's just a minor concussion. I smelt so much blood on you I was worried." Rogue said as he barged into the room. When he took in my current position he froze, and I saw how his eyes changed. When it was just the two us, three if you count Frosch, his eyes were soft and inviting, but for some reason his eyes were cold and distant.

Whispering to Loke I asked him to leave so I could talk to Rogue. I could tell how reluctant he was but he still left, kissing me on my forehead and winking at Rogue as he did; causing Rogue to growl rather loudly. It was weird, in the weeks that I had been here I have heard almost as much growling as I had in Fairy Tail, and it had all come from Rogue. "Why do you always growl when someone touches me or is around me? I understand Julien, but Loke would never do anything to hurt me." I asked, annoyed by it all.

Rogue was silent for a while, thinking of how to answer my question. He remained silent, even after Frosch came in, bouncing onto my bed and into my arms. "Fro thinks Lucy did a wonderful job, but Fro was worried when she saw the blood." She said with tears in her eyes, and hugging me tight.

"I'm sorry for worrying you Fro, I didn't mean to. The important thing is that I'm gonna be fine, and that the bleeding has stopped." Returning her hug, I was touched that she cared so much.

"I…I was worried too. Lucy." Rogue said quietly. "I'm sorry for growling so much, it's an automatic reaction when I see people around you. I feel protective of you for some reason; it might be because I haven't been able to figure out where I know you from. I know I've seen you getting hurt before, and that's probably why I have all of these protective instincts." Coming closer to me he grabbed my hand, entwining our fingers. "_At least most of the reason" _he muttered under his breath, barely audible. "You have been so familiar to me since I found you in that barrier." He said, squeezing my hand tighter and looked into my eyes, searching for something. "Do I seem familiar to you at all?" He said looking hopefully into my eyes.

I could see how much this had been bothering him and I was sad that I couldn't solve the mystery for him. "No Rogue, I'm sorry. When I woke up you didn't seem familiar at all. There was no sense of déjà vu, nothing."

I could tell that he was disappointed, but he bounced back pretty quickly, returning back to the Rogue I knew. "That's okay Lucy; I'll figure it out eventually, until then bear with me." Smiling at Frosch he continued talking. "Do you think I could stay in here with you tonight? I'd be happy to wake you up every hour to make sure you're alright." He said shyly.

"Uh, sure, thanks Rogue. But you can't sleep in the bed with me." I added quickly, laughing nervously. Looking down I noticed that we were still holding hands and began to blush. Even though I was blushing I didn't remove my hand from his, enjoying the feel of his hand in mine too much. Closing my eyes I just felt his hand, and felt his pulse; I didn't realize that I had begun stroking the back of his hand with my thumb, but when I did my eyes snapped open to look at him.

I was afraid to see his reaction, but I had no reason to be scared because he was smiling at our hands. When he saw me move, our eyes locked on each other and we just smiled. "Go to sleep, I know how tired you must be after your fight."

"But we didn't get out breakfast, and I'm starving!" I said right as my stomach growled, laughing at its perfect timing. Sitting up, I laid Frosch down on my pillow, while keeping ahold of Rogue's hand. "Let's go get our breakfast." Bouncing up, dragging Rogue along with me; leaving the door open in case Frosch woke up before we got back.

**Rogue POV**

When Lucy had opened her eyes I thought for sure that she would take her hand out of mine, but when she didn't I was unable to contain my smile, happy to hold on to her for a little while longer. I hadn't even realized that we haven't eaten yet, and it was way past lunch time. I guess I was going too slowly for her because the next thing I know is being drug out of the room. Laughing at how fast she was moving, I let her continue to drag me along until we reached the top of the stairs. When we got there I pulled her to a stop making sure she was alright when she swayed a little and had to lean on me for support. "I can get our food; I've had breakfast with you enough times to know that you only eat strawberry pancakes in the morning with a strawberry milkshake." I said with a chuckle. While I was talking she tried to move away from me to go down the stairs, she would have fallen if I hadn't still had ahold of her hand. Pulling her to my side I made the executive decision that she was having breakfast in bed. Lifting her up, I ignored her protests and gently dropped her onto the bed next to Frosch.

"Stay" was all I said before I left to order our food. Shaking my head at her earlier tactics I proceeded downstairs, weaving in and out of the flying debris and guild members. As I approached the bar I was relieved that Julien wasn't on duty anymore, because one look at him and my good mood would have disappeared. Sliding onto a stool I impatiently waited for the barkeep to notice my presence, but didn't interrupt his conversation about the fight between Lucy and Yukino.

"Can you believe Lucy won? I lost a week's worth of pay because of that! How can someone who gets thrown around the guild on a daily basis beat one of our strongest S-Class mages?" The barkeep, Andrew said.

"I know! I thought betting on Yukino would be safe but we were totally wrong, now I can't buy that outfit I was eyeing yesterday!" His girlfriend said pouting. Looking up to Andrew, she whispered "I wonder who the third person was to bet on Lucy. I know Rogue and Rufus did but the third one was a late entry and I couldn't check before the actual fight."

_That's interesting; I didn't know anyone else had bet on Lucy beyond Rufus and I. _"Andrew!" I said growing impatient and worried that if Lucy didn't get her food soon enough she would try to come downstairs to check on me. "I'll take my usual breakfast order plus Lucy's." When I had spoken his name they both turned to me, and looked sheepish, knowing I had heard what they said about Lucy. It was no secret that I didn't like it when people put down Lucy. "When it's done bring it up to the room." I said without looking at him for acknowledgement, I knew he would bring it up as quickly as possible in order to not anger me.

On my way back up to Lucy I overheard similar conversations and just smirked. The one of the best things about Lucy's win was that I had won enough jewels to make up for the weeks I had spent here instead of out on requests. I stopped by the request board, so I could listen to them some more, enjoying their agony.

I was so distracted that I barely caught a strange scent passing by me to go upstairs. Looking around I saw nothing out of the ordinary, but I heard the door to Lucy's room open and close. Without a though I raced upstairs, knowing something was off. When I got to the door and turned the handle the door wouldn't budge; something was jamming the door closed. "Lucy, Lucy, open the door!" I yelled through it. Strangely enough I couldn't hear anything coming from the room; none of Frosch's soft snores, or their heartbeats. My concern only grew when I saw a familiar blue light shining from the bottom of the door. Turning to shadows I tried to slip under the door, but was thrown back, same as when I first had found Lucy.

Running back to the door I brought my foot up to it trying to kick it down, but still nothing.

"Rogue, what's wrong? You and Lucy get into a fight or something?" Sting said laughing at my attempts to break down the door.

"No" I said trying to bust the door once again "there is something going on in there, and I can't get in. Lucy and Frosch are in there." The door was splintering, but not enough for me to get in yet. The next time my foot hit the door so did Sting's. Looking at him in surprise, he just shrugged and continued to help me bust open the door.

When there was a big enough opening we could see Frosch hiding behind Lucy, who was using her whip to keep Julien and a murder of crows at bay. I was wondering why she didn't just call her spirits to help her when I noticed that her whip looked like a normal one. Looking further into the room I could see the blue barrier was lining the room, most likely preventing any use of magic.

Catching Sting's arm before he could hit the barrier with his magic incased fist, I shook my head. "It repels magic and reflects magical attacks back to the attacker." I explained, looking helpless.

He looked at me in disbelief. "What are we supposed to do? Just watch them get beaten and possibly taken?" he shouted. Returning his attention back to the door, he examined the barrier before muttering "it's worth a try" before he started eating the blue light that made up the barrier. After a couple of inhales he started coughing and turning green; as if he were on transportation.

"Stin-." Was all I got out before he ran to the balcony and threw up on the unsuspecting people below. Cringing at the sound of it landing on someone I let him be and continued to beat on the barrier, trying to distract Julien in order to create an opening for Lucy. My first strike surprisingly created cracks in the area where Sting had been focusing on. Sending him a mental thanks I continued to pound into the splintering shield.

At the sound of the shield breaking Julien took his attention off of Lucy long enough for her to latch onto him with the whip and slam him into the ceiling and ground a couple of times, until he was unconscious. Just as I finally broke through, the crows disappeared and in their place was a key. Ignoring everything I ran to Lucy and Frosch, reaching them in time to catch Lucy as she passed out. Feeling my hand touch something wet I finally noticed that she had reopened her head wound and was bleeding again. Setting her down on the bed I looked towards the door and saw curious faces peering in, and still could hear Sting retching over the balcony.

"Someone take this idiot to the cellar." I said jerking my head in Julien's direction. "Be sure to restrain him with the anti-magic cuffs." When no one moved to follow my orders I glared at them all and roared "NOW!" That got everyone moving and soon Julien was being dragged down the stairs.

No longer hearing Sting, I poked my head out the door and saw the doctor leading him to the other infirmary, moaning and clenching his stomach as he went. Know he would be taken care of I looked around the room for something to cover up the doorway. Looking through the open bathroom door I spotted the shower rack and snatched it, and put it in the doorway, creating some semblance of privacy. Once I was done making my makeshift door I grabbed a chair and placed it by Lucy's bed.

Sitting beside her I grabbed her hand, feeling how cold she was and hearing how shallow her breathing was. When Dr. Fujii came in, he took one look at her and shook his head, muttering about irresponsible mages. "She used too much of her energy, and since her magic levels were so low earlier she will be out of it for a while." Turning to me he pointed at me speaking in a sterner voice "Make sure she stays in bed, no more fighting for at least a week." Assuring him that I would be glued to her side until she had fully recovered I watched him re-clean her head and wrap it up in clean gauze. When he was done he left, still muttering about foolish mages.

"Thank you Lucy for protecting Frosch, she means the world to me." I said while petting Fro with one hand as she laid down on my lap, and holding onto Lucy's hand with the other. "I don't know what I would have done if she had gotten hurt." Looking down at her I saw that Fro was still crying as she slept. "I owe you so much Lucy."

**Sting POV**

I was still standing in the training yard trying to process what I had just seen. _Blondie had beaten the shit out of Yukino._ Yup that still wasn't making any sense, but having seen it with my own eyes I couldn't deny it. _I'm glad I changed my bet last minute. _

"I guess that means we have to let Blondie in the guild now, My Lady" I said sneaking a glance at her shocked expression while suppressing my laughter. Seeing her nod still at a loss for words I snorted and moved to help Yukino. I had watched as everyone had filed back into the guild ignoring her unconscious body as they went. When her attitude went downhill she burned all of her bridges, ending every possible friendship she had.

Reaching her, I picked her up and headed towards the infirmary; ignoring all the looks I got I pushed passed everyone and took her to the communal infirmary, knowing that Lucy was still in the private one. When I got there I saw that no one else was there so I laid her down on the bed closest to the window and pulled up a chair so I could sit with her.

We had been close before everything had happened to her but she pushed me away along with everyone else. Even though she didn't want me around I still kept tabs on her and sometimes 'assisted' on some of her missions. She almost caught me several times when I followed her, so close that she confronted me about it, and glared daggers at me when we were both at the guild.

Hearing her breathing pattern change I knew she was waking, standing up I put the chair back where it belonged and headed towards the exit. "Sting, thank you" she whispered. Turning back to her I winked at her and was about to head back to her when I heard Rogue yelling out to Lucy.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere." I said while holding up my hands.

Heading out the door, following Rogue's voice, I came upon Rogue banging on Lucy's door and I smirked. _They probably got into a fight. _"Rogue, what's wrong? You and Lucy get into a fight or something?" I said laughing at Rogue's struggle.

"No, there is something going on in there, and I can't get in. Lucy and Frosch are in there." When I heard that Frosch was in there too and saw how worried Rogue was about the two of them I decided to help him try and break the door.

It took several more kicks before we were able to make a hole big enough to see what was happening in there. Even with the barrier in our way we could see inside the room. _Julien? What the hell! _Looking through the door I could see the tears in Frosch's eyes and how scared she was as Julien ordered the crows to attack Lucy. They were the only ones to attack, as Julien watched with his arms crossed. Everytime the crows approached Lucy she would use her whip to sweep them away and then she would take a shot at Julien, splitting his cheek open. Watching Lucy protect her, I had a whole new respect for her. After her fight with Yukino I knew she wasn't in any condition to be up and fighting. The strength it took to ignore all of her aches and pains was insurmountable. Although she was holding her own I could tell that her strength was waning and that we needed to get in there now.

Inspecting the barrier I could sense that it was made out of solid light, similar to the light that Yukino and Lucy's spirits appeared from. _I can eat light why not this? _Shrugging I decided to give it a go.

Sucking in the barrier's light was painful and disgusting. When I ate light it was warm and delicious, the taste varying depending on the type of light. Unlike the normal light I've eaten, this light was ice cold, burning my throat as I swallowed it. The taste was unusual, making me gag when the taste of chemicals hit my tongue. After several mouthfuls of the light I stopped, feeling queasy; it was just like when I was on the train, I could barely hold the puke in as a ran to the balcony. Just as I got there I released it, laughing at the people I had hit; abruptly stopping my laughter when another wave of vomit came up.

When I stopped throwing up I leaned on the balcony and just stood there, until I felt hands guiding me to a bed in the infirmary. Laying down on a bed I felt the doctor looking me over.

"Sting?" I heard Yukino from her bed, before I passed out.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think! I love getting reviews! <strong>

**Thanks to **StiLu RoLu JeLu Love **for unintentionally giving me the idea to have Sting eat the barrier! =] **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Thanks to everyone still reading my fic and to all the wonderful people who have reviewed, followed or favorited!**

**Sorry for any mistakes I may have missed! **

**Here is the newest chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, but I do own my crappy attempt at a spell. ;)**

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><p><strong>Rogue POV<strong>

It's only been about 5 hours since Julien attacked Lucy, but she still hasn't woken up. The doctor said it was because of her concussion and her lack of energy. Sitting by her bed Frosch and I watched over Lucy who was resting but not peacefully; I could see her eyes moving behind her eyelids. _I wonder what's going on inside her head. Can't be pleasant with all of that jerking she is doing. _

Frosch refused to leave her side staying right beside her head stroking Lucy's hair as she spoke words of encouragement and thanks at first before she fell asleep.

Sting was still trying to recover from his bout of sickness from eating the barrier, but was well enough to check up on us after his stomach stopped protesting. Surprisingly he visited with Lucy, along with Frosch and I, asking us about her condition and actually caring to hear the answer. It was nice seeing him warm up to her after all this time.

"You really care about Blondie, don't you Rogue?" Sting asked as his slipped through the door, closing it after he was completely in.

Looking at him, I saw that he was just staring at Lucy, his attitude different from his earlier visits. Making eye contact I tried to see what his purpose was for this discussion, seeing no malice I answered. "Yes I do. I thought it was weird at first when all I did was watch her sleep and talk to her, but ever since she woke up I have been drawn to her. Part of it is because I know, I have seen her before, and it is killing me that I don't remember; and the other part is possibly just attraction, but it feels deeper than that." As I talked about her, my eyes had strayed towards her unintentionally. Facing Sting again I could tell that he was confused but also understanding at the same time, as if he too had felt the same thing I had. Before I had a chance to ask him about it he had opened the door, speaking as he left.

"Get some sleep Rogue, you don't look good. I'll make sure no one disturbs you three." He said as he walked out the door to stand guard.

"Thanks Sting" I whispered, knowing he could hear me with his heightened senses. "Wake up soon Lucy. Please" I said, placing her hand between mine as I dozed off, trusting Sting to watch over us.

**Lucy POV**

Everything was fuzzy as I opened my eyes and stood up from off the ground. Looking around I took in my surroundings but saw nothing but bright white everywhere. There were no discernable shapes; I was definitely not in my room at Sabertooth, nor was I in any place I had been before. I was in an endless void. Reaching for my keys I wasn't too surprised when I didn't feel them on my belt, considering I wasn't in my regular clothes; I was in a plain white, floor length dress with my brown belt hugging my hips; if it weren't for the bely, I wouldn't have been able to discern where my body began and where it ended – the dress blending in with the surrounding area flawlessly. Without both my keys and whip I was defenseless. _Darn-it, why didn't I pursue hand to hand combat when Capricorn offered? _Smacking my head with my palm I answered my question _because I was too focused on expanding my magic. _

Further berating myself I walked around for a while seeing if I could find a door or something to tell me where I was, but I couldn't find anything. Needing a break I closed my eyes and sat down on the ground with my legs crossed, and began thinking of what else I could do. Calming myself down I began meditating, and mentally called out to my spirits but got no response from them, just a mild buzzing in my head. The buzzing could mean one of two things, either I was too far away from my keys to contact my spirits or something was blocking my calls.

Too stubborn to stop I concentrated harder, trying to force a connection but I still got nothing besides a growing headache. When my head started feeling like Erza had sent her Heaven's Wheel attack whirling through my head I stopped and fell backwards expecting to hit the floor and lay down, but I never hit the ground. I no longer felt the ground underneath me and I kept falling, doing backward summersaults until I was able to straighten myself out so I was falling backwards, scrambling to find a something to grab ahold of to stop my rapid decent.

Unable to find anything to grab onto I continued to fall; I fell through similar areas as where I began, except each room was a different color than the last. Turning over so I could see where I was falling, and saw various more colors, that I assumed were other rooms, after a while all of the colors merged into one and I was spiraling down a rainbow of sorts. Without Horologuim's key I couldn't tell how long I had been falling but it felt like it's been forever and that I would never stop.

None of the constant change of scenery nor the sensation of falling was helping my headache; I was close to hurling when I felt myself slow down and then completely stopped. Feeling around with my feet I tried to reach the ground but I couldn't find any sign of their being one and was hovering over the endless void. This place was unique compared to the other rooms; it was like nothing I had seen before. It was like I was in a conservatory looking at the constellations. From what I could see all of the Zodiacs were there plus seven more. The extra seven were brighter than the Zodiacs; I was trying to get a closer look at them when a booming voice appeared.

"Lucy Heartfilia you are in grave danger." Looking around for the source of the voice I saw one of the constellations light up momentarily before a figure appeared in front of it. The speaker wasn't human, he looked like a horse, I would have thought he was until his wings unfurled so he could fly to me. _Pegasus._ "That which haunts your past is after your future. Polaris is gaining strength from her followers and the death of Celestial Mages, soon she will rise and darkness will fall over your land and ours. Find the six her who once followed her, collect their keys and they will lead you to victory."

"What six are you talking about? Death of Celestial Mages?! Those mages didn't die; their powers were stripped from them!" I shouted. "Pegasus, did Loke send you?"

"Yes your spirit sought me out to erase the spell I had cast under the King's orders. Look around you Miss Heartfilia." He swept his wings out, presenting me with the answer. "Those that shine brighter are who you need to seek out. Once you have found all six keys they will lead you to her.

"The mages I speak of were killed by followers of Polaris. I believe you met one not long ago, Julien, I believe is his name. Did you not wonder why he attacked you? They are gathering Celestial Mages to sacrifice to their 'Goddess'. Fools the lot of them, they do not realize the havoc that will be wrought if she were to be released into the world. Although, in a sense, your Celestial Mages 'died' too. Yes they may still live, but their powers were stripped from them, never to return, and so a Celestial Mage has 'died'; one less, or in your case, dozens less, to get in her way when the time comes.

"You must not waste any time my dear, at the rate her worshippers are sacrificing mages, and the decline of Celestial Magic in this world to feed her seal, she will arise on the last Lunar Eclipse of the year, the time when Celestial Magic is flowing through Earthland in droves. Five months may seem like a lot of time, but be warned; the six keys that you seek will not be easy to recover. They were banished alongside Polaris and were sent to some of the harshest climates and terrain so they wouldn't be found by someone with an impure heart. Looking and hearing all about you has led me to the conclusion that you are your mother's daughter; she too had a heart of gold, willing to do anything in her power to protect the ones she loved, albeit it was for a little time. I'm positive you will surpass your mother's abilities and become the greatest Celestial Mage we have ever seen, as long as you survive this endeavor."

"How do I find the six keys, and why are seven brighter than the rest if I am only to find six?"

"Have you not figured it out dear? The seventh is guiding them all just as Polaris did. To humans she is known as the North Star, guiding those wayward souls to their destinations; look at it in your world and you will notice that it no longer is the guiding star it once was, as she gets stronger, the star grows dimmer.

"As for finding the keys, you have already found one, left to you after Julien's defeat. He will be able to lead you to the closest key. Each of the six spirits are able to open their gates and roam the land, confined within a mile of their key's location; so keep your eyes open, because you may see one and not realize it until it's too late."

"What happened to Polaris to make her this way?" I asked walking closer to Pegasus, his wings calling out to me to stroke. When my fingers initially touched his feathers he froze and stared at me. I could tell he was enjoying it when I felt him relax under my hand.

"You will need to ask the Spirit King about that, it is his story to tell."

Nodding I was about to ask him something else when I heard Rogue's whispered voice talking to me. Frantically turning my head every which way I was confused when I didn't see him anywhere. "Rogue?" I whispered. Feeling Pegasus shaking beneath my hand I turned back to him to see him chuckling.

"You are waking up my dear. It is time for us to say goodbye. Before I go I'll leave you with a parting gift." He said has he brought his muzzle to my forehead and blew air on it. "The spell that trapped you inside that room and prevented you from using magic; once learned you will be able to use magic within it and project it onto anything, with practice of course. You will also be able to choose who can use magic within in, each time you cast it." Backing away from me he unfurled his majestic white wings and flew into the air, backing towards his constellation. "Be well my dear, and remember the clock is ticking." He said before a flash of light appeared, and he vanished.

Hearing Rogue's voice more clearly I could feel myself being tugged towards it.

"Wake up soon Lucy. Please." Was the last thing I heard before I felt myself leaving my dream state and return to my body. I laid there, feeling my heartbeat unusually fast.

_Did that really happen, or was it all a dream? Why do I keep waking up so confused? For once I would like to knowingly go to sleep and not worry about what has happened. _I thought as I commanded my heavy eyelids to open. Immediately closing them again when I saw how bright the room was. Opening them up again, only a little, I let my eyes get used to the brightness before I gradually opened my eyes all of the way.

I could no longer hear Rogue talking to me, and was beginning to think it had all been part of a dream until I became aware of pressure on my right. Afraid to see that I had somehow injured it in the fight I looked over to see what it was. Seeing Rogue holding my hand with both of his made me smile, in relief and something else I didn't feel up to thinking about. Looking around for Fro, I found her on the left of my head curled up. Seeing no bandages on her, I was relieved that Fro hadn't been harmed during Julien's attack.

Feeling how parched my throat was and how dry my lips were I reached for the cup of water I always had on the bedside table. Not wanting to wake Rogue up from his nap, or take away my hand from in-between his, I awkwardly tried to grab it with my left hand. Trying to get it from besides Rogue without spilling, I could almost reach it but accidentally snagged the rim and nearly spilt the water on both Rogue and I. Giving up I carefully flopped back onto the bed with my eyes closed, thinking of another way I could get the water. Hearing someone laugh, my eyes popped open to find the source. _Sting, what is he doing in here! _

He must have seen how confused I was because he walked from the closed door to stand behind Rogue. Warily watching him, I was shocked when all he did was hand me the glass of water I had tried so hard to get earlier. Sitting up to inspect the glass, and sniff its contents to make sure he hadn't done something to it in the seconds he had held it, I drank it all in two gulps. Smacking and licking my lips when I was done, I returned the glass to Sting's waiting hand and laid down again. I continued to watch him as he silently moved a chair to the foot of my bed and sat down, putting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward in a slouch with his head hanging down.

"This is hard for me to say this, but thank you for saving Frosch and protecting her when we couldn't. I'm sorry I was such an asshole to you for the past month; I was just worried that you were stealing Rogue, Frosch and Lector away from me. They are my only true friends I have, my only family. After we teamed up it has just been the four of us, always, and when you came into our lives I thought I was too stubborn to see that you truly cared about them, and weren't trying to steal them away." I could only stare at him in shocked silence for a couple of minutes. Seeing an annoyed tick form on his head, he opened his mouth and spoke in a frustrated tone. "Seriously! I come in here to apologize and thank you and all I get is that stupid look on your face? I don't get what Rogue sees in you!"

Laughing, I watched him as he threw his hands into the air and slumped back down in the chair unceremoniously. Stopping my laughter I looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry Sting, I was just shocked that you would apologize to me after so long. I'm glad you can see now that I'm not trying to take your place within your family, I would never do that.

"You don't need to thank me for protecting Frosch; she has been such a good friend since I got here, Rogue, Rufus and Lector too, that I would gladly do it for any of them. Plus it wasn't her Julien was after it was me. So in a way all of it was my fault." I finished as I hung my head. _I'm a danger to everyone I am around if what Pegasus said is true. _

"That's not true Blondie, you didn't ask to be attacked. He took advantage of your weakened state after your fight with Yukino, if anything it's a compliment of sorts, that Julien felt like he could only take you after you were drained of magic and exhausted."

All I could do was nod my head in response to Sting, once again shocked at how sweet he could be. Getting my bearings I smiled up at him. "Thanks Sting!" I said, feeling better about the whole thing. If I could have gotten up without disturbing Rogue I would have done so and given Sting a hug, whether he wanted one or not.

Seeing a glint on the floor behind Rogue, I saw a gold key, similar to the Zodiac's, on the ground. _So it wasn't just a dream; great another life threatening situation. _

Sting followed my gaze and went to pick up the key, inspecting it. "Is this yours?" He asked as he placed it in my palm.

Further examining it I noticed that I looked exactly like my Zodiac key except for the gem that was in the place the eye should have been. The eye was made out of Onyx, for something so simple it was quite beautiful. From the looks of it, it was the key of the Crow, Corvus; the birds that had attacked me earlier. _One down five to go. _Reaching for my key ring to put it away, I jumped when my hands didn't feel them on my waist; frantically looking under the covers, I didn't realize I had woken both Frosch and Rogue in my mad search for me keys. "WHERE ARE THEY!?" I yelled, throwing pillows and blankets as I searched. Hearing the sweet jingle of my keys, I quickly emerged from the covers to find Rogue dangling my keys from his index finger with a smirk. Relieved, I snatched them from him so I could hug them to my chest, mentally calling out to them to let them know I was alright.

When I stopped hugging them, I felt Rogue and Sting's eyes watching me. Sheepishly looking up into their stupefied faces, I shrugged and continued on as if nothing had happened. When they continued to stare at me I looked down at myself and screeched. "PERVERTS! GET OUT!" I scrambled to the furthest side of the bed from them and rolled onto the ground to hide my body from their prying eyes. _Why do my clothes always get destroyed!? _Not hearing the sound of the door open, or close I poked my head up from the side of the bed to see if they were still there. Picking up a pillow I tossed one at each other their faces "I said get out!"

The impact of the pillows must have made them come to their senses because the next thing they do is run out of the room as if their life depended on it. _Serves them right, just staring at me while I'm practically naked. _Hearing scary laughter from behind me I slowly turned around to face what had really scared the two Dragon Slayers off. Luckily it was just Virgo in her larger form, but what had probably scared them away were all of her 'toys' she had brought with her.

One time when she had asked for punishment, early on in our contact, she had brought the very same rack of 'toys' offering to let me use them for her punishment. Politely declining I had her take them all back, hoping to never see them again. Glancing over them all, I looked up at Virgo and her hopeful gaze. "Punishment, Princess?" She asked, I wasn't sure who was supposed to be punished, her or the two perverts. At the thought of punishing them I giggled.

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><p><strong>An:<strong>

**TChacha:** Hope the explanation about the spell (underneath my response to the reviews) gets rid of any confusion. The reason we didn't see Julien casting it before is because Rogue got there after he had done it. Haha, Loke will always flirt with Lucy, it is what makes their friendship so wonderful. 3 Thanks! I love that you review every chapter, makes my day when I read them!

**Jui-Imouto-Chan: **Of course I will give credit where it's due. Did you change your username?

**CiafiHOLIC:** Don't worry, Yukino will be leaving soon. ;)

**Let me know what you thought of the chapter please. =]**

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><p><strong>The spell that Pegasus left Lucy with was Divine Safeguard. (Sorry for the sucky chant. I honestly couldn't come up with something better, and it was giving me a headache so I stuck with this one.)<strong>

**Spell Divine Safeguard:**

**Casts a shield on an object, person or place. Most a caster has been able to hold it for is an hour because it takes a lot of magic to cast. It takes so much magic because the mage is constantly feeding the shield to keep it going-when it takes damage the caster feels it, but to a much lesser degree. (This spell is mainly defensive, but can reflect magical attacks back on the attacker, but not as strong.) **

o **Those who watch over us through the night**

**Align and magnify thy brilliant light**

**Come forth and form solid light**

**Surround!**

**Divine Safeguard!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hey you guys! Sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the others! I blame GaLu week. Lol. Every time I started writing this chapter ****my brain would switch over to GaLu mode for some reason causing me to stop this chapter and write whatever had come to my mind. **

**My mom's surgery went well and now we have a ton of physical therapy to do and so much to learn. So sorry if my chapter release dates are sporadic for the next couple of weeks.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Lucy POV<strong>

I ended up not punishing them after all, it wasn't their fault that Julien destroyed my clothes, or that I accidentally exposed myself. But it was funny watching them constantly checking their surroundings or anything I gave them to eat and drink. When I offered to get our food when it was ready they would both jump up saying 'NO', then one of them, sometimes both would run to the bar to get our orders. I only let this last for a day, feeling bad that they weren't able to relax around me.

When I had recovered enough strength to walk down to the cellar I went to go interrogate Julien. Surprisingly I had two guards when I went down there, Rogue and Sting; I had expected one but not the other. Standing outside of the cell I peered inside, getting a better look at the man that had tried to kill me. Noticing how beat up he was, and the fresh blood seeping through his bandages I assumed I was not the only person to come see him before now. Seeing how he stared at Rogue in undisguised fear and tried to create the most distance from him, I deducted that it was Rogue who had paid him a visit last night. _Explains why Sting was there instead of Rogue last night._

Not feeling the least bit sorry for the pain that was inflicted upon him I unlocked his cell and stepped in, ignoring the protests of my guards. Standing in front of him I crossed my arms under my breasts and stared at him. I could see the defiance in his eyes when he wasn't looking at Rogue, I could also see how much he wanted to hurt me, even though he was stripped of weapons and his key. Looking at his face some more I wondered how he had found me so quickly after I had gotten here, he joined within a day of Rogue bringing me here.

Uncrossing my arms I sat down beside him on the cot. "Why did you try to attack me?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. If he wasn't going to answer this question he probably wouldn't answer any of my others.

"I did it so Polaris could rise." He said in a monotone voice.

"Why do you follow Polaris? What has she promised you?"

"She didn't promise me anything, ensuring the happiness of my goddess is enough reward for me. I follow her because she is the rightful ruler of the Spirit World; it was taken from her unjustly. My family has always worked for her, helping her rid Earthland of the unworthy Celestial Mages and their spirits. We and others will continue to do so until she has been freed." I could only stare at him in disbelief, he sounded like he had no mind of his own, no original thoughts flowing through his head. "If it is not I who kills you it will be someone else. They know of your existence and will hunt you down to finish what I was unable to do."

"Why do you say she is the rightful ruler of the Spirit World, what about the King?" I questioned trying to find some reasoning behind his answers.

"Ha! You don't even know? Polaris was being groomed to succeed your tired old king, until traitors went behind her back and told the king lies. Your spirit Leo, was one of them, in fact the entire Zodiac betrayed her. She had one last test before the king would have handed over the crown, and they ruined it for her. If it weren't for them she wouldn't be locked away now." Julien said as he glared at the subject of his hatred.

"They would never do that! If they say Polaris did something, then she did it, my friends would never lie when a someone they care about is in danger." I defended.

"If they care so much where were they when I attacked you?" He said with a chuckle, turned cough, as he clenched his stomach.

_I hope Rogue broke something when he beat you._

"You know why they didn't show up, it was because of that spell you put around the room. You blocked them from coming to me, my whip didn't even work properly, but I still defeated you didn't I?" I said with a smirk. Taunting him some more I pulled out his old key and held it in front of him. "What set does this key belong to?" I asked, jerking the hand that held the key back when he lunged for it; safely putting it back on my key ring and tucking it away in my pocket before he could get a hold of it.

"Give that back!" he said, lunging at me again, this time going for my throat.

His fingers grazed my throat before Rogue and Sting pulled him off of me, throwing him across the room, going after him a second later. "Answer her question!" Rogue growled as he twisted one of Julien's arms behind his back.

Cowering under the two Dragon Slayers he spoke. "It is part of the Jeweled set. See the onyx in place of the eye? It will allow you to temporarily use the spirit's power after it's contracted to you. Each of them has a different gem, with different powers for each spirit; six of them make up the set. They were banished when Polaris was, cast out until they could change their way of thinking. I was able to find Corvus in a swamp town, near the edge of Akane Resort."

"Who are the other spirits and where can I find them?" I demanded.

"I don't know where the rest are, but I heard the Dragon can be found in a small ass town close to here. Kenji I think it was. I was going to steal the request we the guild received a few weeks ago, but it disappeared." Catching his breath he stared daggers at me, before looking to the ground when Rogue twisted his arm some more. "Alright, alright; the other four are the Wolf, Phoenix, Great Bear and Chameleon. Geez, someone is awfully protective of the bitch."

Hearing a growl, I could tell that Rogue was close to losing it. Before he could move I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head. "Rogue, don't waste your energy on him. I got what I came for; we can call the council now to pick him up." I said trying to digest all of the information I was given and making plans to head to Kenji, as soon as possible. I walked out of the cell without waiting to see what Rogue and Sting would do. I knew that they were angry that they hadn't seen what Julien's true intentions were when he joined the guild. If it were up to Minerva he would have disappeared, never to be found again; but luckily they were able to talk her out of that plan, convincing her that a life in an anti-magic prison would be the better punishment.

As I walked back to the guild hall I tried to recall what Pegasus had said about the spirit's hiding in plain sight. _So that would mean if the Dragon was in Kenji then the others could be too! No, no one has seen a dragon in years; if not dragons then it had to be wyverns! _

So lost in thought, I ran into someone and started apologizing before I saw who it was. "I'm Sor-. Yukino, what do you want?" I asked, wishing my magic was recovered enough to summon Loke. Backing away from her, I reached for my whip. Watching her lift her hands I tensed, ready to defend myself.

"No, I'm not here to attack you. I just want to talk, in private if possible."

Considering my options I agreed to talk to her, telling her to lead the way to my room so I could watch her in case she tried something. Once we were in the room I moved to the other side of the bed with the window at my back. I felt better now that I had the bed between us and my whip in my grasp, even though it was still on the belt. "Okay, what do you want to talk about?" I asked still tense, but mustering up my courage to release my hold on my whip, giving her a real second chance.

Before she said a word she started pacing, thankfully keeping her distance as she did. I looked at her and saw cuts all over her face, arms and legs, from where the branches must have cut her when she was tossed in it; they were all scabbing, so that meant she was healing and I was happy for that.

"Thank you." I looked at her in confusion. _What?_ "I don't know why or how you did it, but thank you for talking Minerva into letting me keep my S-Class status. You're different from the other Celestial Mages I've met; not as power hungry. All the others could think about was gaining more keys, and becoming more powerful; but you, you actually care about the well-being of your spirits and others. It's sweet. I used to care too, once upon a time.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier about our spirits deserving to be respected and loved, and I agree, but I know I can't do that anymore." Pausing she looked at me, "by now I suspect you have heard about what happened to me."

Sheepishly I nodded, having overheard Rogue and Sting talking vaguely about it last night. I didn't get all of the details, but I got enough to get the gist of what had happened.

"Deep down I know it's not my spirits' fault that, that happened to me. I wasn't strong enough for them to open their own gates, or even call them for help; too afraid that I could lose the place I called home if I defied the Master. But I wound up losing it anyways. Everywhere I look I see him, and those memories resurface, no matter how hard I try to keep them at bay. It's the same with my spirits. When I see them, I feel nothing but anger; when I look at them I am reminded of how I wasn't strong enough to stop it.

"I loved them, I truly did. But the love I felt for them is being clouded by the anger and resentment I feel over the whole situation. It's because of that anger and resentment, and with a shove from you, I have decided to leave Sabertooth and give up pursuing Celestial Magic. I want you to have my keys; I know you will treat them with all of the love and respect I couldn't give them."

When she touched my hand I tried to jerk it back, ready to refuse, but I saw how difficult this was for her and the tears she was holding back. Warring behind her eyes was the love she had for her spirits and the anger she was fighting so hard to hold at bay at the sight of their keys. _She really does care about them. _Looking down at our hands I watched as she put all three of the golden keys into my hand before she forced my hand closed and thrust it away from her.

"Yukino… are you sure about this?" I whispered, awed by the strength she was displaying; thinking of the well-being and happiness of others before yourself wasn't an easy thing to do. Yes it would help her in the long run, but in this moment there was nothing but pain as she forcibly parted herself from her family.

I could see her throat at work as she swallowed several times before she answered me. "Yes, it's best for me and for them. I…I can't move on from what happened to me with all of these reminders. May..Maybe when I work through some things I can see them again?" She requested, hopefully looking at me with tears streaming down her face.

Forgetting my earlier fear I closed the distance between us and hugged her, ignoring her flinch and the fact that she wasn't returning the hug. "Of course! Whenever you want to see them all you have to do is ask! If you ever want them back we can discuss that too, when the time comes. Until that time, I will take care of them, just as I do the rest of my spirits." I promised her, still petting her back in sympathy.

*sniff sniff* "Thank you Lucy!" She said as she finally returned my hug.

We stood like that for a long while, both of us crying. We continued to hug even after the door opened and the two Dragon Slayers stepped in, both of them staring at us in wonder. I knew they were confused about how Yukino and I could go from being enemies to hugging, but I didn't care. At this moment I was just glad that she had started her healing process.

Breaking the hug a couple of minutes after we had both stopped crying I held her at arm's length, just smiling at her. "You're going to get better Yuknino, I can tell!" I said giving her an encouraging smile.

"Thanks Lucy. Without you, I don't think I could have made this decision." Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand she turned to the boys. "What? You've never seen friends cry together?" looking at me for confirmation of our new relationship.

"We'll be the best of friends" I replied. Ignoring the guys I turned back to Yukino. "When are you leaving? Are you going to join another guild?"

"I'm going to leave at the end of the day and I was planning on going solo for a while. Maybe find a new magic to learn, while look for my sister."

"Hold on a moment. No one is leaving the guild!" Sting yelled pushing forward to get in her face.

"You can't stop me Sting. I need to get away from this place and all of the memories that come attached." She smiled, "I'll come back and visit one day."

"When you're ready to see your spirits again Yukino just go to Fairy Tail and ask for me." I said without thinking.

"FAIRY TAIL?!" Sting and Rogue shouted together.

_Oops._ "Uh yeah. Since we just returned after seven years and then I got kidnapped, I didn't have enough time to learn what had happened and what guilds we were allied with, that's why I never told you what guild I was with. Sorry, I had planned on tell-"

"That means you know Natsu and Gajeel!" Sting said excitedly.

"Were you ever going to tell us, Lucy? I thought you trusted us more than that…I thought you at least trusted me." Rogue ended with a whisper.

"I do! I do trust you Rogue!" I went to him, trying to get him to look at me "Rogue?"

**Sting POV**

The rest of the day was uneventful compared to the last couple of days, other than the fact that Rogue was keeping his distance from Blondie for the first time since he brought her here. Blondie wasn't very happy with the development, choosing to ignore him back. They were both acting like children if you asked me.

We spent the rest of the day at one of the guild's tables, Rogue and I on one side and Lucy and Yukino on the other; talking and making plans for where Yukino should go to look for her sister. We were at a loss, when we tried to think of ways to find her sister, but Lucy surprised us once again.

"Oh, about that. Does your sister have silver hair like yours and could pass as your twin? Oh! and did she practice Celestial Magic?" She asked in a strange tone of voice. "If so I think I know where she is. She goes by 'Angel' now. You can easily find her and rule her out if you go to the Magic Council prisons."

We all gawked at her when she said 'prison'. Catching the hint of excitement and fear from Yukino I glanced at her, unsure if she was afraid to get her hopes up or concerned about her sister possibly being a criminal.

"How do you know where she is Blondie?" Asking the question that was on all of our minds.

"I put her there, twice most likely," Blondie said, not looking the least bit guilty. "Well not just me, Team Natsu was there too, and most of Fairy Tail, the second time we met up with her." Blondie went on to describe her thrilling encounters with the members of Oracion Seis, telling me more about Natsu when she saw my eyes widen at his name.

_Maybe she can give me a hint as to how to beat him. Nah! The Great Sting Eucliffe doesn't need help, I can beat him myself. _I thought, sitting a little taller as I did.

"That sounds like her Lucy! Thank you, I'll contact the council before I leave." _I haven't seen you smile in a long time Yukino...maybe getting away from here will be good for you. _"Well, now that I have figured out what I'm going to do, what are your guys' plans?"

Looking towards Rogue, I responded before he could, "Rogue and I are going to finally do this request I got weeks ago! There is a bunch of wyverns attacking the town of Kenji and -"

"I'm going with you." Blondie said looking determined.

"No you aren't. It's for S-Class mages only, and from what I heard, you didn't make the cut to even try out for the position so there is no way you can handle a request that is asking for two of them. Plus you aren't even able to use your magic yet, what makes you think you would be of any use to us?" I said quickly dismissing her demand.

"I never said I wanted to help you, _like I would!" _she ended in a mutter. "Weren't you paying attention to anything Julien said? He was going to steal that request in order to find the second key of the Jewled set. Anyways, if I don't go with you, then I'll go by myself." Lucy said in a huff, getting up from the table to storm up to her room.

Rogue ignored us for the better part of an hour, too busy staring at Blondie's door, waiting for her to return. I was talking to Yukino when mid-sentence Rogue got up to check on Lucy. When she wouldn't unlock her door and let him in in transformed into shadows slipping in from the crack on the door. Almost immediately he slammed opened the door and came stomping back down the stairs growling.

Now that her door was open I could tell that Blondie hadn't been the room for some time, her scent not as strong as it usually was. When I went to the bottom of the stairs I could see the door to her closet was open, and surprisingly empty.

_She's so stubborn! Why couldn't she accept that this mission was too dangerous for her, especially since she wasn't cleared to use her powers._

As I fummed, I heard Rogue leave the guild.

Looking back and forth from the guild doors that Rogue had just walked through and Yukino, I tried to make my mind up on what to do. I hadn't planned on leaving for Kenji until after Yukino had left, but from the look of things I had just been left behind with the two exceeds to look after.

Making the decision for me Yukino got up from the table and pushed me towards the door. "Go. They need you." _But you don't? _"Neither one of them is thinking straight" Yukino said as she shook her head at their stubbornness. When I just looked at her she continued. "I promise I'll contact you when I find my sister."

With a nod of my head, I ran after the two brain dead idiots with Lector and Frosch behind me. Running to catch up with Rogue, I halted when I heard Lector cry out to me. They had fallen behind and Frosch was crying because she didn't want to be left behind. Sighing, I turned around and ran to pick them up. With the exceeds in tow I jogged to Rogue, who was surrounded by his shadows as he followed the road to the town of Kenji. Lucy was much farther away than I had expected. From the direction of her scent and the distant sound of a train leaving the station I assumed she had gotten onto the train to Kenji, leaving the two of us to walk; not that I was complaining. Glancing at Rogue I saw his shadows flare up at the sound of the train.

_Does he even know that he's lost control of some of his shadows? _

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><p><strong>AN: Let me know what you thought of the chapter! <strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So sorry that this chapter is late! I was experiencing some serious writers block, and then when I finally came up with something I had no time to write it.**

**Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed and read my fic. 3**

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><p><strong>Sting POV<strong>

Watching Rogue storm down the road while muttering to himself was getting old fast. He hadn't said a single word to anyone but himself for the past hour. _He's completely lost it. _

During the past hour I had to put some distance between us because of his uncontrolled magic. At first it had just surrounded the immediate area around his body, but over the past house it had grown and was now surrounding a foot in every direction. If we or anyone else got too close I knew he'd accidentally hurt us. My attempts at getting him to calm down hadn't worked and at this point I was thinking up ways that I could knock him out so his magic would stop flaring.

I was discussing my ideas with Lector when I felt the load in my arms get lighter. Looking at the area where two exceeds used to be I was horrified to see Frosch slowly making her way to Rogue. It got worse when Lector jumped out of my arms to get her back without success. Reaching for them I shouted "Frosch, Lector don't get near him!"

Something in my voice must have reached Rogue because he stopped walking and looked behind him. When he saw Frosch quicken her pace to run to him he released a tiny smile and bent down with his arms out, ready to pick her up. The minute he saw how his arms were covered in shadows he looked troubled and reigned in his magic just in time for Fro to hop into his arms unharmed.

Releasing a breath I didn't know I had held I walked up to Lector and picked him up before I continued to Rogue. I watched as Frosch patted his cheek before snuggling down in his arms before promptly falling asleep.

Looking back up at Rogue I saw him glaring daggers at me. "Why didn't you tell me my magic was flaring up?" He asked annoyed and pissed off.

I stared at him in disbelief. "You…I… arghh! I tried you idiot! For the last hour I've been throwing rocks at your head, hitting you with my magic and spraying you with water but you kept on going as if nothing that happened.

"Listen Blondie will be fine. It's not like she knows the details of the mission or who to ask for when she gets there… what's with that look?" I asked when I saw Rogue grimace. "She doesn't know the details… right Rogue?"

He put his head down as he answered, speaking almost too quiet for me to hear. "She may have taken the request with her because I accidentally left it in her room before we went down to get some food."

"God damn it Rogue! I gave that to you to hold onto. All the mayor knows is that two mages will be there with the request in hand. Minerva was getting impatient with us and didn't want to keep the client waiting any longer so she told him that she was sending the mages out by the end of the week. She didn't know if you would have gotten yourself off your ass by then so she didn't know who was going to go for sure. That's why she signed had to sign the fucking paper, to let the mayor know that they were sent by her." Releasing a big sigh I hung my head and prayed that Blondie wouldn't do anything stupid. "Great, now we have to hurry up and get there. If I had known we were leaving today I would have packed my lacrima so we could contact the mayor, but nooo you have to storm out of the fucking guild with no provisions and nothing packed. Let's hope she doesn't try anything stupid, like taking the mission herself."

"She wouldn't do that. Plus the mayor is expecting two mages, not one…you don't think she'd really be that careless right?" Rogue asked as he picked up his pace so we were jogging instead of walking.

"I don't know Rogue, you're the one that knows her the most. Do you think she'd do something that stupid? Thinking about it now, if she is anything like the rest of her team, then we are in trouble… They run head first into dangerous situations without a thought to their safety. And considering how upset she was I don't think she will be thinking clearly.

"Kind of like you… You've been on a rampage ever since you left the guild. Muttering to yourself like a lunatic and letting your magic run amuck. Plus you left Frosch alone at the guild without a word, something you've never done before. If you, the most in control person I know can't keep it together I don't think she will be much better." I said solemnly as I put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.

"You know I think you're wrong about her. She has more control than that. She won't take on the wyverns by herself let alone the dragon. Especially when the doctor ordered her to no use her magic for the time being so she could refill her reserves… at least I hope." As he spoke he went from jogging to running, completely contradicting his statement.

_Great by the time we get there we are going to be exhausted from all this running. _

We continued to run for another hour before he slowed down to a jog. But by the sound of his heart beat I could tell he couldn't keep this up for the two hours we had left of our journey. Even though the thought of it made me sick I knew the only way we could get there in time to help Blondie out was to take some mode of transportation. By the green tinge to Rogue's face I could tell he had the same idea.

Making a pit stop in town we checked the train's schedule and bought the tickets for the train that would arrive in 15 minutes. We quickly ran into the station's store and picked up a few supplies and snacks and then sat down on the nearest bench and rested our tired legs.

"You remember that girl I told you about when we first met?" Rogue quietly asked, as he handed Frosch and Lector a fish to munch on.

Thinking back to that conversation I smirked. "You mean the one that you've had a crush on for the past seven, almost eight, years? The one you have spent all this time trying to find with no luck? What about her?"

"I think Lucy's that girl." I scoffed at that.

"Are you sure that's not just wishful thinking? I mean what are the odds that after all these years you'd literally find her in your backyard?" _Yup, he's definitely losing it. _

"No, seriously. Think about it for a moment." He said as he started counting on his fingers how she fit the bill for his mystery crush. "She's blonde. She belongs to the same guild. She is defiant. And she is the same age, well not if you include the seven years that she disappeared for. Plus her disappearance could be why I never found her after I quit the guild and stopped running from the old members of Phantom Lord. It would also explain why I was so protective of her from the start."

"I think that is a big stretch Rogue. Why would the girl who was beaten and tortured, not to mention kidnapped by Black Steel Gajeel and the Rain Woman, Juvia stay at the same guild as them, with the constant reminder of what had happened to her." Cutting him off before he could speak I continued. "And there has to be more than one blonde girl in Fairy Tail, she can't be the only one. You just want her to be the one so you can stop looking for her and know that she is alright and fulfill your promise to her that she doesn't even know about."

I could tell that Rogue didn't want to believe me when I said she couldn't be the girl. He had been searching for her for so long and I thought it was time for him to give her up, especially since he seemed to like Lucy so much.

"I guess you're right, it is a stretch, but there is no harm in asking Lucy when we catch up to her." Musing out loud he asked. "Do you think she's mad at me for ignoring her?"

"Nah, knowing how you two gravitate towards each other you'll be holding hands in no time, once we are done with the mission. Can you really blame her for not telling us about her guild, it's got to be hard coming back after seven years to find everything changed, and new guilds formed that you know nothing about." I said as I packed up our stuff into our new bags and stood up. "Come on we gotta go save Blondie."

**Lucy POV**

Climbing out of the second floor window hadn't been easy. But luckily I had planned ahead and made it a hell of a lot easier than it could have been. When I had first woken up in this room I hadn't known if I could trust Sabertooth so I took precautions. In addition to not revealing my guild affiliation I planned an escape route just in case I needed it and I'm glad I did.

Even though Rogue and Sting weren't keeping me here against my will, I knew I needed to leave as quickly and quietly as I could so I could make it to Kenji before them. They wanted to keep me from an important part of finding Polaris and avenging my mother's death. I knew they weren't doing it intentionally, but the fact that Sting refused to let me join them for their stupid mission was ridiculous. I needed to meet with that dragon and collect his or her key. Yes I know that Sting was right in some aspect of his refusal to let me go, but I never said I wanted to fight. I would have been perfectly content to let them defeat the wyverns until they had deemed it safe enough for me to approach the dragon. But nooo, Sting just had to imply that I wasn't strong enough for the mission and that I shouldn't be using my magic. Bah! If he had bothered to ask I could have told him that I could use my magic, doctor be damned. I felt my magical reserves filling as I had sat there listening to him berate me and as I walked away from their guild. It had to be the magic I had to be because of the powers I had absorbed in the clock. I wasn't too sure, but I knew I was recovering surprisingly fast.

Although Rogue hadn't said anything during Sting's tirade I knew he agreed. Ever since I let it slip that I belonged to Fairy Tail he had been ignoring me, and not meeting my eyes. Any attempt I made to tell him that I was going to tell him about Fairy Tail when things had calmed down was dismissed, as if I had ever lied to him. I knew I had inadvertently hurt him, but he had done the same when I saw him nod when Sting was speaking to me. They both thought I was weak, too weak to be of any help on the mission, and that's why I left without a word.

_"Both of them can go drown for all I care. I'll show them that they were wrong about me" _

"Uh… ca… can I help you miss?"

I hadn't realized I had made it to the train station until I heard the man's voice. Shaking my previous thoughts away I looked at the ticket master and smiled.

"Yes, I'd like one, one-way ticket to Kenji please." After I had paid for the ticket I immediately entered the waiting train. Luckily I had gotten here when I did because the next one to Kenji wouldn't be here for another hour. Finding a seat was tedious. My choices were creepy old men who leared at me, or crying babies, neither one I wanted to deal with at this moment. Moving to the very back of the train I found a semi-isolated seat that only had one other person near it.

When I sat down I threw my bag down on the seat next to me and used it as a pillow. I knew that I should stay up to make a plan but I was exhausted and just wanted to take a nap. Before the train departed I was out, drifting into a restless sleep.

"NOW ARRIVING AT KENJI STATION. PLEASE COLLECT YOUR BELONGINGS AND WAIT FOR THE TRAIN TO COME TO A COMPLETE STOP BEFORE EXITING. THANK YOU AND WE HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY."

That loud, obnoxious voice blaring over the intercom was not how I had wanted to be woken up, but I had no say in the matter. _I swear if there weren't witnesses I'd smash that thing to bits. _

Ever since that dream I had with Pegasus I'd been sleeping restlessly, as if he was trying to tell me not to let my guard down. I don't think he understood that I needed sleep to function. If he wanted me to stay alert I needed to get enough rest so I could do so. Giving my cheeks a couple of slaps I tried to wake myself up enough to gather my belongings.

Running my hand over my keys I learned that it had taken two hours to get here, meaning I was at least two hours ahead of the Dragon Slayers, maybe three. Leaving me with plenty of time to come up with a plan and execute it.

Making sure I had everything I swung my bag onto my back and stood up to stretch before the train came to a completely stop. Walking around the station I found the map of the town and found the quickest route to the mayor's house. As I walked there I made a mental note to visit the magic shop that was right next to the station. I didn't have enough time to go there now because I knew I only had so much time before those pesky slayers arrived.

I was thankful that they would probably try to walk here before they ultimately decided that they needed to take a train or rent a car. That at least gave me a couple of hours, head start.

Reaching the front of a lavish two story home I knocked on the door using the ornate door knocker and waited for someone to answer. I could hear footsteps as they reached the other side of the door and looked though the peep hole as the spoke.

"What business do you have with the mayor?" She said in a gruff voice

"I'm here to take care of the den of wyver-. What...?" I gasped out as the door suddenly opened and I was dragged into the house, with a hand over my mouth.

"Shhh we don't want to alarm the residents of the town. They believe that it's just a band of bandits that are stealing their valuables and eating the livestock. Follow me, I'll take you to the mayor's office" she said still whispering and dragging me along.

One look at her had me thinking of the first time I had seen Virgo. Pulling at my arm I tried to get the maid to release her grip on me so I could walk at me own pace. "Uh can I have my arm back please?" I asked strained.

She didn't acknowledge that I had spoken to her and continued to weave in and out of the hallways and doors until we reached one that she didn't barge into but stopped and knocked politely all the while straightening out her clothes as best she could with one hand.

"ENTER" was shouted from within the room, the voice sounded very weary and angry at the same time. When the door opened it revealed a man that had his head in his hands and was pulling what little hair he had left. For the mayor of the town and resident of such a extravagant home he did not look the part. His once finely pressed clothes were wrinkled and crooked, as if he had been sleeping in them for the past week and if I wasn't mistaken there were tear streaks running down his face. Even though he had bid us enter he looked surprised to see us there staring at him. Looking at me her quickly stood up with his hand out to me. "Thank God! I thought Sabertooth would never send their mages." As if looking for someone else he looked behind me. "You're not from Sabertooth are you?" dejectedly he released my hand only to move back behind his desk and slump back into his chair to resume his previous position.

I don't know what came over me but the words just spewed out of my mouth without any thought to the consequences. "Sabertooth! Yes I come from Sabertooth. My…uh partner is off arranging accommodations for us and getting the lay of the land." _It's not all a lie at least… oh Mavis, what did I just get myself into?_

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><p><strong><em>AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. =] <em>**

**_Sabrina huish:_**_ Thanks! _

**_whitelion20202:_**_ I'm just happy that there are those people who like it now! If others want to read it will just be icing on an already perfect cake. ;)_

**_Lil_**_ **Scarlett:**_You have to wait a little bit more but I promise he/she is coming soon. =] Glad you loved the chapter!

**BronzeDove: **Thanks! I know Dragon Slayers, they can be such a pain. ;)

**GemNika: **Thanks! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get up, life got away from me. XD

**artisofthemind: **Thanks and will do! =]

**Jui-Imouto-Chan: **I think she is already in trouble. lol


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